Vintage Aboriginal Bark Painting: "Dogs of Bahloo" - EUC

Description

Up for sale is this traditional aboriginal bark painting from Australia, illustrating the story of Bahloo the Moon (portrayed here as a Wandjina, or cloud and rain spirit) and his three snakes, which he called his dogs. When Bahloo asked some Aborigines to carry his "dogs" across a stream (pictured at the bottom), they were afraid to and refused. As a punishment, from that day onward, Aborignes are not reborn when they die, as the Moon is reborn every night. They kill all the snakes they find, but there are always more.
Wow. What a great story, and what a powerful graphic, rendered in black and white paint on a curved 1/4" thick piece of bark measuring 9" x 16". It is in very good, gently-used condition with minor paint loss, as pictured, with the story typewritten on the back.