Tjukurrtjanu TjukurrtjanuTjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art

NGV NGVNGV: 150 years Museum VictoriaMuseum Victoria Papanya Tula ArtistsPapanya Tula Artists

  • An NGV Touring Exhibition
  • 30 September 2011 – 12 February 2012
  • The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia,
  • Federation Square, Melbourne
  •  
  • 9 October 2012 – 20 January 2013
  • Musée du quai Branly, Paris

Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art examines a watershed moment in the history of art when a painting practice emerged at Papunya in Central Australia. Tjukurrtjanu gives prominence to 200 of the first paintings produced at Papunya between 1971 and 1972 and also establishes the vital connection between the works of art and their sources in ephemeral designs made for use in ceremony.

A collaboration between the NGV and Museum Victoria.
In partnership with Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd.

This website contains the names, images and works of Indigenous people who have passed away, which may cause distress to some Indigenous people.

Indigenous people from Central Australia and the Western Desert are advised that this exhibition contains culturally sensitive works that may be considered harmful or inappropriate for viewing by women or uninitiated members of their communities. Care has been taken to respect cultural protocols and, following a comprehensive consultation process, these works will be exhibited separately for the duration of the exhibition and will not be illustrated in the exhibition catalogue or displayed on this website.

Please note that some records contain terms and annotations that reflect the period in which the item was recorded, and may be considered inappropriate today in some circumstances.


Painting

  • EXHI015301
    Kaapa Tjampitjinpa
    Anmatyerr/Warlpiri c.1925-89
    Corroboree and body decoration 1972
    synthetic polymer paint on composition board
    35.4 x 22.0 cm
    Beverly and Anthony Knight, Melbourne
    © artists and their estates 2011, licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Limited and Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd
    More
  • EXHI015291
    Tutuma Tjapangati
    Pintupi/Pitjantjatjara c.1909-87
    One old man’s Dreaming 1971
    earth pigments and synthetic polymer paint on composition board
    63.0 x 44.4 cm
    Beverly and Anthony Knight, Melbourne
    © artists and their estates 2011, licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Limited and Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd
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  • EXHI015400

    Namarari depicts the Bandicoot Dreaming at the site of Marakutju, a hill north of the Walungurru community. Here the ancestral bandicoot made a shelter by scraping at the ground, pulling all the spinifex grass into a nest with his claws and forming a type of roof with the grass. He then stretched out on his back with his limbs splayed. The work is emblematic of place and also embodies the movements of the bandicoot in constructing the shelter. It is identical in scale and subject to the artist’s major prize-winning entry in the 1991 National Aboriginal Art Award. The work reveals Namarari’s use of increasingly reduced visual motifs, which enable him to reach a conceptual distillation of elements that intersect when he thinks of particular places in his country.

    Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri
    Pintupi c.1926-98
    Bandicoot Dreaming in the Marakutju area 1994
    synthetic polymer paint on canvas
    182.0 x 153.0 cm
    Gabrielle Pizzi Collection, Melbourne
    © artists and their estates 2011, licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Limited and Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd
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Artists

ARTS002098
Freddy West Tjakamarra
Pintupi c.1940-1995
Photo © John Corker
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ARTS002099
John Tjakamarra
Pintupi c.1937-2002
Photo © John Corker
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ARTS002100
Uta Uta Tjangala
Pintupi c.1926-90
Photo © John Corker
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ARTS002101
Walter Tjampitjinpa
Pintupi c.1912-81
Photo © Allan Scott
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ARTS002118
Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra
Pintupi/Luritja born c.1932
Photo © Allan Scott
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ARTS002120
Mick Wallangkarri Tjakamarra 1972
Kukatja/Ngalia c.1905-96
Photo © Allan Scott
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Objects

  • EXHI015734
    Unknown
    Pintupi active (1950s)
    Spear thrower (1950s)
    Mulga (Acacia sp.), earth pigments, spinifex resin, sinew, wood
    76.0 x 9.0 x 5.0 cm
    The Donald Thomson Collection, University of Melbourne
    On loan to Museum Victoria, Melbourne (DT4562)
    © Museum Victoria 2011 / Photographer Benjamin Healley
  • EXHI015742
    Unknown
    Warumungu active (early 1900s)
    Group of decorated knives early 1900s
    quartzite (flaked), glass, wood, spinifex resin, earth pigments, bark, bush string
    Museum Victoria, Melbourne
    Purchased from James Field, 1907 (X13764) (X13697) (X13570) Purchased from G. F. Hill, 1928 (X36746)
    © Museum Victoria 2011 / Photographer Benjamin Healley
  • EXHI015838
    Unknown
    Arrernte active 1900s
    Necklace 1902
    fur string, bandicoot tail tips
    29.0 x 22.0 x 5.0 cm
    Museum Victoria, Melbourne
    Gift from Baldwin Spencer, 1902 (X9622)
    © Museum Victoria 2011 / Photographer Benjamin Healley

Links

© 2011 National Gallery of Victoria

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