Charlie Numbelmoore: Master of the Wandjina
Charlie Numbulmoore also spelt Numbulmore or Numbelmoore stands among the most significant Aboriginal artists of the Kimberley region and is widely regarded as a foundational figure in the visual interpretation of the Wandjina ancestral spirits. His work—distinct, spiritual, and powerful—encapsulates the enduring cultural authority of Worrorra, Ngarinyin, and Wunambal peoples. Renowned for his bark paintings of Wandjina, Numbelmoore played a pivotal role in transitioning these ancient Dreaming figures from the sandstone caves of the north-west Kimberley onto portable surfaces—ensuring their preservation and proliferation beyond Country.
This article serves both as an expert resource and as a guide for collectors looking to identify a genuine Charlie Numbelmoore painting, with a focus on style, iconography, surfaces used, and his biographical legacy. If you possess a Charlie Numbelmoore Wandjina painting, or wish to know its value, you are encouraged to contact us or send a high-resolution JPEG for appraisal.
Wandjina Iconography: Numbelmoore’s Signature Style
Charlie Numbelmoore’s paintings of Wandjina are instantly recognizable for their graphic clarity, bold spiritual intensity, and highly distinctive facial features.
Key Characteristics of Charlie Numbelmoore’s Wandjina Paintings:
- Eyes: Large, black, circular eyes dominate the face, framed by a delicate fringe of eyelashes. These eyes convey power, watchfulness, and presence.
- Nose: A thin, parallel-sided nose flares dramatically at the tip—often in black or red—lending the face a commanding central axis.
- Mouth: Notably, many of Numbelmoore’s later Wandjina figures include a small mouth. This is highly unusual, as traditional Wandjina iconography often omits mouths to avoid invoking continuous rain. The inclusion of a mouth reflects influence from Western anthropologists or collectors.
- Headdress/Halo: The head is typically encircled with a tripartite halo—red, yellow, and white bands interpreted as clouds, lightning, and spiritual energy.
- Chest Marking: The sternum or “heart” of the Wandjina is depicted as an oval-shaped black or red form, symbolizing a pearl shell pendant (riji) or the seat of spiritual essence.
This distinctive combination of features helps to authenticate a Charlie Numbelmoore Wandjina painting, distinguishing it from the works of his contemporaries.
Charlie was a pioneer artist for painting Wandjina on bark like Alec Mingelmanganu and Jack Karadada
Materials and Mediums
While most collectors associate Numbelmoore with bark paintings, his artistic practice extended well beyond this medium. He worked prolifically in the 1970s, at a time when the Wandjina was being translated from cave walls to mobile surfaces for the first time.
Surfaces Used by Charlie Numbelmoore:
- Eucalyptus Bark: His barks, while sometimes coarsely prepared, possess spiritual gravity. The rough surfaces are adorned with ochres and charcoal, without fixatives—typical of Kimberley technique.
- Slate: A rare but durable medium, slate offered a canvas-like smoothness and longevity.
- Coolamons: Shallow wooden vessels, often used in ceremony or daily life, were also painted by Numbelmoore.
- Composite Board & Cardboard: These humble materials, often discarded or repurposed, reflect both the resourcefulness and adaptability of early Kimberley artists engaging in trade.
Despite these portable forms, Numbelmoore never saw these paintings as replacements for rock art. As Ryan (1993) states, artists like Charlie regarded these works as “reproductions” of the true Wandjina—those that reside permanently in sacred rock shelters.
Origins and Biography
Charlie Numbelmoore was born near Gibb River Station in the Central Kimberley. Though formal biographical data is sparse—typical of early 20th-century Aboriginal artists—his presence is documented through the careful recordings of anthropologists and collectors. Ian Crawford first encountered Charlie in the 1960s, observing him retouching Wandjina figures in a Mamadai rock shelter. This act—quietly reverent, yet visually profound—was not merely artistic but spiritual: the repainting of Wandjina is a sacred responsibility, keeping the ancestral spirits “alive” within their Dreaming places.
Further documentation comes from Helen Groger-Wurm, who collected examples of Charlie’s bark paintings on behalf of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies in 1970. The same year, Tom McCourt, a pastoralist and collector, visited Numbelmoore’s camp and acquired numerous paintings on bark, plywood, and cardboard. In his journal, McCourt reflected on the artist:
“The last of the old people here… who has that certain something that impresses you… when I was in Charlie’s camp, I bought several paintings he had in his hut… Although his work is childlike, it has the primitive look of paintings seen under the rock hangings out in the bush.”
(Sotheby’s, 2003)
Numbelmoore’s works are regarded as extensions of the rock art tradition, rather than deviations from it. His approach exemplifies the sacred, rather than the commercial, even as his art entered private and institutional collections.
If anyone reading this should have more biographical detail about Charlie numbelmoore I would love to hear from you. Please contact me through email.
The Power of Repainting: Cultural and Spiritual Meaning
The act of repainting Wandjina is at the heart of Numbelmoore’s practice. After one such retouching at a Mamadai cave, he is recorded as saying:
“I made you very good now… you must be very glad because I made yours eyes like new. That eye you know, like this my eye… I made them new for you people. My eye has life, and your eye has life too, because I made it new… don’t try bringing rain, my wife might drown with the rain.”
(Ryan, 1993)
This statement reveals much about his worldview: the interconnectedness of artist, spirit, and viewer. The Wandjina are not merely symbols; they are ancestral beings whose visual representation carries real consequence. Their eyes have life. Their presence invokes rain, law, and country. In painting them—whether on cave or cardboard—Charlie Numbelmoore was upholding the Law and fulfilling a sacred duty.
Context: Wandjina Art in the 1970s
Charlie Numbelmoore was among the first generation of Wandjina painters to transition these ancestral forms to non-sacred surfaces. Other Wandjina artists active in the 1970s include Alec Mingelmanganu, Jack Karedada, Djanghara, and Bungkuni. However, Numbelmoore’s style remains uniquely identifiable—his work being formalized, expressive, and deeply informed by his personal engagement with rock shelters.
Unlike the Arnhem Land bark painters—whose preparation techniques were refined and their materials curated—the Worrorra and Ngarinyin artists, including Charlie, often used what was available. Thus, many early Wandjina barks are irregular in surface, with pigments absorbed unevenly and european fixatives rarely used. This rawness, far from a flaw, is often cited as a mark of authenticity
Collectability and Value
Today, original Charlie Numbelmoore Wandjina paintings are rare, especially those on bark or slate. His works have appeared in institutional collections and on the auction circuit—most notably through Sotheby’s Aboriginal Art sales in the early 2000s. When assessing a work’s value, provenance, condition, medium, and iconographic clarity are critical factors. His artworks vary from thousands for a small painting on slate to many tens of thousands for a large painting on Bark.
Conclusion
Charlie Numbelmoore’s legacy is not merely that of an artist—it is that of a cultural lawman, a spiritual technician, and a visual poet of the Wandjina. His works bridge worlds: sacred and secular, rock and bark, ephemeral and eternal.
Whether viewed in the dim light of a Kimberley cave or the pristine white walls of a gallery, a Charlie Numbelmoore Wandjina painting possesses an authority that cannot be imitated. It is ancestral presence in pigment, story in shape, and spirit in form.
If you seek to understand, authenticate, or value a Charlie Numbelmoore work, we invite you to reach out.
All images in this article are for educational purposes only.
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which was not specified by the copyright owner.
Charlie Numbulmoore Bark painting images
The following images are not a complete list of works by Charlie Numbelmoore. They do however give a good feel for the very distinctive style of this artist.
