GALLERY I is dedicated to the Masters of the Papunya Tula Art Movement, which came into being in the early 1970s and found pride of place on the international art stage through the creative expertise of a small group of desert tribesmen, who remain recognized as the precursors of Contemporary Aboriginal Art.
"We know certain things from the long record of art history that talents are always unevenly distributed; that the core meaning of an art movement must be unearthed through relentless study; that the weight of significance is shouldered by a few individual artists who stand out from the mass and whose work repays prolonged attention." ....Rothwell 2004. Quoted in an article titled `Culture Shift` by Sebastian Smee .... Weekend Australian, March 2006.
Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri
(Pultara) AO (c.1937-2002)
One of the founding fathers of the Papunya Tula Art Movement, this Anmatyerre artist remains the most celebrated artist in the history of Aboriginal Art and is the first Papunya Tula artist to be given a Retrospective, which began in October 2003 at the Art Gallery of South Australia and was on tour throughout 2004 and ended in 2005. Featured in numerous Aboriginal art books published to date, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri is recognized as a Master of colour, composition and symbolic narration of a unique ancient culture that his work and the Art of his contemporaries helped to preserve following the near decay of Aboriginal Culture under Colonial Rule.
This
Man's Love Story (Ngarlu) by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri is positively a world
treasure, as is the artist.
More..
Title: Man's Love Story (Ngarlu)
Date: 1993
Size: 181 x 125cm ( 5` 11 1/4`` x 4` 1``)
Medium: Acrylic on Linen
Provenance: Painted at Warrandyte for Milanka J Sullivan
F. Mosmeri and M. J. Sullivan Collection
PRICE: AU$1.1M
Exhibition: Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Retrospective: Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Queensland Art Gallery. Araluen Art Centre.
Exhibition Catalogue number 47
Publication: Johnson V, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Art Gallery of South Australia, exhibition catalogue, Adelaide 2003 p.182-183, illus. p.247 for a detailed analysis.
For more information on the Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Retrospective and on the artist himself visit the Art Gallery of South Australia and click on `EXHIBITIONS` ...scroll down this page and then click on `PAST EXHIBITIONS`. This site is particularly interesting, not only for collectors, but also for teachers and students with an interest in Aboriginal Art.
Sales/information: Artspeak@bigpond.com
Tele: (+61) (0) 3 98443780
Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri
(Pultara) AO (c.1937-2002)
Title: Eagle and Bower-bird Dreaming (Ceremony)
Date: 1996
Size: 126 x 82 cm (Aprox. 4` 9 1/2`` x 2` 8 1/4``)
Medium: Acrylic on Linen
Provenance: Painted at Warrandyte
Private Collection
PRICE: AU$174,900
This painting clearly lends itself to the secret/sacred world of the artist and his unique gift of expression designed to impart cultural meaning and pleasure to the mind, or senses. Every element in this work has purpose described in its accompanying documentation that also offers proof of authenticity.
Sales/information: Artspeak@bigpond.com
Tele: (+6) (0) 3 98443780
Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri
(Pultara) AO (c.1937-2002)
Title: Lightning Dreaming
Date: 1996
Size: 146 x 82 cm (Aprox. 4` 9 1/2`` x 2` 8 1/4``)
Medium: Acrylic on Linen
Provenance: Painted at Warrandyte
F. Mosmeri and M. J. Sullivan Collection
PRICE: AU$220,000
This unique painting exemplifies the sophistication of the artist`s creative expertise in the latter part of his 30 year career. Accompanied by sound proof of authenticity and a detailed description of the work's content, this painting can best be described as a masterwork.
Many people have an opinion on the art of Clifford Possum; the following is from David Betz in relation to his newly acquired 1982 Clifford Possum acquisition, as shown in David's most recent news letter associated to his gallery named `Songlines Aboriginal Art`, which is based overseas and seemingly a gallery owned by a man with integrity and a genuine love for Aboriginal Art.
"....The painting comes from
what many consider Clifford's best period (the late 70’s through early 80’s)
when he was incredible fertile creatively and produced some of the best and most
ambitious work of his career. "
Tim Klingender of Sotheby`s expresses similar opinions, particularly when he showcased Tjapaltjarri`s 1977 Warlugulong painting, which fetched $2.4M in Sotheby`s July 2007 auction. This early period in the artist`s career was described by Klingender as the artist`s `golden age`.
There is no doubt that Clifford Possum created a champion body of work in the first half of his artistic career, but so too did he do likewise in the second part of his working life, but from 1984/85 the artist`s body of works had largely been polluted by fakes and family paintings, thus clouding perception. The artist also fell victim to alcohol abuse during certain years from this period on, which had a negative impact on many of his paintings. But like Western masters, whose artistic legacies embody great works and art of a lesser kind, Clifford Possum `s art from throughout his 30 year career is also a collection of the great and not so great with some of the latter from his early period and the former from his later life. To think otherwise is a lack of understanding of the artists achievements, or comes from a restricted view of the artist`s full body of works, or simply just a commercial ploy.
Unlike Western artists Tjapaltjarri did not have the luxury of drawing inspiration from an endless range of subject matter, as his work was culture focused and remained fixed on a restricted number of particular Dreamings that were the artist`s own, which he remained faithful to. As such, the idea that all of Possum's works ought to have been very different one from another remains an impossibility unless the artist turned his attention away from his Dreamings and abandoned the iconographical visual language that he personally invented, such as the hair spindle in his `Man's Love Story` paintings, for example, which he would not have ever done; nor would we have wished him to. Nevertheless, the fact that this artist could produce paintings for 30 years with restricted subject matter and remain a focus for collectors throughout his working life is in itself a testimony of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri's creative excellence as an artist.
When the full body of Tjapaltjarri`s work from the 1990s is seen and understood, however, it becomes clear that the artist actually did create new forms of expression to capture old ideas, such as illustrated in this 1996 `Lightning Dreaming`. Meaning, there is no work of this style by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri from the 1970s and 1980s in existence, and there is no `Lightning Dreaming` like this work anywhere in the world. The lightning motifs, or white wavy lines flanked by pairs of short lines, however, are not new, in fact they are ancient, for these motifs are a depiction of traditional lightning iconography drawn from the artist`s ancient Native Culture.
No art by Clifford Possum is void of traditional content even where none seems to be present, such as in Tjapaltjarri`s `Worm Dreamings` where lines that represent underground worm burrows are actually formed in a style to express sacred ceremonial body art. Likewise in relation to the lines in the above `Lightning Dreaming`, which at one level represent moving/travelling clouds, but double to capture sacred ceremonial body paint. The inventiveness of Clifford Possum combined with this artist`s sheer determination to preserve his beloved Anmatyerre Culture in his art cannot be underestimated, for at the end of the day the Art of this man from the desert leaves no room to do so.
All said, we all know that Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was not a 17 hit wonder and most art scholars know that few admired Western artists in history are admired for their earliest examples of art, so does Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri`s aboriginality have something to do with the way his later work is poorly judged by a certain few? Can it be that the more this artist developed his work to a level of high sophistication impinged on certain people’s perception on what they wanted Aboriginal Art to be? Did Clifford Possum become too conscious of his work; did he not remain haptic enough artistically to fulfil the expectations bestowed on Aboriginal Artists? More to the point, did Clifford Possum develop into too much of an artist to impress his critics? Or is his work simply too steeped in Aboriginal Culture to impress all?
"... what was achieved by `Fluent` (the exhibition at the 1997 Venice Biennale) was to start people thinking about contemporary Aboriginal art overseas ... For starters there were no dot paintings or `Dreaming` in the title. I just keep seeing those shows coming up ... and they've been happening for 20 years. You want to move beyond that. "
Brenda Croft, senior Aboriginal Art curator at the National Gallery of Australia. TIME magazine May 22, 2006: article: `Papunya to Paris`.
Croft has been described as an artist herself and has some Aboriginal heritage; she also played a major role in the selection of Aboriginal Art work for the Musee du qua Branly in Paris. Is there a Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri painting in this museum? If there is this information is unknown and if there is not this would be a disgrace considering this museum's focus. What is known, however, is that the National Gallery of Victoria does not own a Clifford Possum painting in his own right, or it may only recently acquired one. That is, when the National Gallery of Victoria exhibited its collection of Aboriginal Art in 2006 it was made clear that the only work by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri that this state gallery owned was a collaborative work created by Possum and his brother Tim Leura, which was also featured via a very small photograph close to the back of this exhibition’s accompanying catalogue titled `LAND MARKS Indigenous Art in the National Gallery of Victoria`.
Given Clifford Possum’s status and that this artist called Warrandyte in Victoria his second home and that five of his eleven grandchildren were born in Victoria and live here permanently, this obvious lack of appreciation for the Art of Clifford Possum demonstrated by this State Gallery speaks volumes and leaves all Victorian’s a little poorer and somewhat shame-faced. Particularly so given that the NGV could have acquired a grand masterwork directly from Clifford Possum himself when the artist approached Judith Ryan (the NGV curator of Aboriginal Art) in 1994 with a 430 x 183 cm (aprox. 14` x 6` ) `Possum Dreaming at Napperby` in hand with an asking price of AU$40,000 that Ryan rejected on the grounds that our State Gallery could not afford it. The following photograph shows this particular painting. The image of the artist signing it better depicts its colours and the sheer quality of the work, which in terms of the overall composition is simply champion.
Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri`s 1994 Possum Dreaming at Napperby.
By definition, an image of a feather and the like does not constitute Aboriginal Art as defined by its Masters, but like their country, their own creation has come to be dominated. This is another issue that raises the question: what is Aboriginal Art? For Richard Bell and his admirers it is `A WHITE THING` and for people like Brenda Croft it seems that `Traditional Culture` in Aboriginal Art is a thing of the past; "...You want to move beyond that. " Do we Brenda?
Remember Vincent Van Gogh's critics?
Sales/information: Artspeak@bigpond.com
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Billy
Stockman Tjapaltjarri (c1929)
From left: Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri, Geoffrey Bardon
and Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri standing in front of this special painting
after a very `sad` Geoffrey Bardon was stopped by police from entering the
Papunya Community (where he established the Papunya Tula Art Movement), because he
did not seek a permit to do so prior to his 1991 visit to the Northern
Territory. The police were instructed to stop Geoffrey Bardon from entering
Papunya by a prominent figure within the Aboriginal Art `establishment`.
Title: Snake Dreaming
Date: 1991
Size: 169 x 124 cm (Aprox. 7` 2 1/2`` x 4` 3/4``)
Medium: Acrylic on Linen
Code: BST91327
Provenance: Tngengkarre Studio Gallery
F. Mosmeri and M. J. Sullivan Collection
PRICE: AU$220,000
This painting comes with accompanying documentation from Artspeak and a collection of related photographic images, which in themselves are a treasure. I cannot guarantee that Billy's wife did not assist the artist in part with the background, but as the work photographs show and from the time spent with the artist while creating this painting, this work is largely, or totally by the artist`s own hand and in real the work is grand and in a constant state of motion due largely to the spiralling snake juxtaposed against a solid more stable background.
From a horizontal view point this painting is just as pleasing to the eye and the snake eggs and symbolic circles (snake holes or burrows) can almost be said to be an amplified version of dot patterning. This is indeed a remarkable work of exceptional quality as exemplified in the photograph.
To date, this artist is largely being ignored in the art market for want of perception, or bias, regarding the art of this beautiful natured tribesman, whose work clearly says `this is a Billy Stockman` fixed to traditional colours in the raw, or mixed with white, and often presenting block-like patched backgrounds that are quite minimalist and, or, cubistic in the Picasso sense. This is largely Stockman's `hand print` post 1970s, though the artist did venture on occasion towards line work in his `Straightening of the Spears` paintings inspired by Turkey Tolsen`s art of that same subject matter.
Sales/information: Artspeak@bigpond.com
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Charlie
Egalie Tjapaltjarri (c1934-2002)
Photograph Copyright: Artspeak Studio Gallery
Title: Snake Dreaming
Date: 1992
Size: 124 x 97 cm (Aprox. 4` 3/4`` x 3` 2 1/4``)
Medium: Acrylic on Linen
Code: CET92
Provenance: F. Mosmeri and M. J. Sullivan Collection
PRICE: AU$174,900
This painting comes with accompanying documentation from Artspeak and a collection of related photographic images, which offer sound proof of authenticity.
The following quotation is featured on page 504 in Geoffrey and James Bardon's book titled `PAPUNYA A Pace Made After the Story....The beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement`.
"Many people watching and participating from the beginning saw the shift in control of the movement from those involved in wider political and social aspirations of Aboriginal people and communities to the power players in the art world, for whom it sometimes seemed that only the best objects mattered. The loss of status of some of the early painters was a little disturbing. Billy Stockman, for example, who had observed the first beginnings on the Papunya School wall, chaired the Papunya Council and became a member of the Aboriginal Arts Board, was deemed a secondary painter by the new market-place. Others overlooked include Charlie Egalie Tjapaltjarri, a beautiful painter, and his brother David Corby Tjapaltjarri ... Geoff Bardon's final assembly of all those great men's paintings, offers a chance to re-examine and celebrate the contributions of many, not just the well-known contemporary masters."
Jennifer Isaacs AM
Writer and Indigenous Art Specialist
Johnny
Warangkula Tjupurrula (c.1920-2001)
Title: Old Man's Bush Tucker Dreaming
Date: 1992
Size: 84 x 56 cm (aprox. 3` 3 1/4`` x 2` 2 1/4``)
Medium: Acrylic on Linen
Provenance: Commissioned by Frank Mosmeri during a period while Johnny was largely being ignored before Sotheby`s sold Warangkula`s work for an enormous amount of money in the mid 1990s.
F. Mosmeri and M. J. Sullivan Collection
PRICE: AU$65,000
This painting comes with accompanying documentation and a few related photographic images showing the artist creating this work, that can be compared to another work of the same title by Johnny W., which is featured on page 358 in Geoffrey and James Bardon's book titled `PAPUNYA A Pace Made After the Story....The beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement`.
To describe this work as a masterpiece would be an exaggeration, but it is, nevertheless, richer in real and has genuine integrity and remains an important work in the artist`s own history and to the history of the Papunya Tula Art Movement, which did not end when Geoffrey Bardon left Papunya, but continued on with each of the founding fathers of the Movement until each put down their `brush` because of old age or death. To my understanding one remaining precursor of the Movement -Long Jack Philipus- is still painting today, or at least is said to be.
Anatjari
Tjampitjinpa (c.1920-1999)
Title: Untitled
Date: 1990
Size: 122 x 91 cm (Aprox. 7` 2 1/2`` x 4` 3/4``)
Medium: Acrylic on Linen
Provenance: Papunya Tula Artists. Catalogue No: AT900722
Tngengkarre Studio Gallery
F. Mosmeri and M. J. Sullivan Collection
PRICE: AU$75,000
This work is most probably one of a very few paintings showing Anatjari Tjampitjinpa with one of his own completed works. The small painting in his hand is another work that the artist created for Papunya Tula Artists, which the artist had just completed and had brought it into town from the bush.
For people who have seen sandpaintings, or pictures of sandpaintings, it remains clear that this work is drawn from sacred Pintupi ground designs that embody the profound in Pintupi Culture. For those of us who live in contemporary society, works such as this, which was created by a genuine Pintupi tribesmen, is as close as one can get to being in the presence of such wonderment associated to an ancient tribal culture, which cannot sustain in the manner that it has due to the intrusion of a more dominant culture (our own), which has infiltrated Pintupi life. Such infiltration is unavoidable in today's world and is not necessarily a negative, but for Anatjari and his contemporaries our dominant culture had little impact on their thinking, for their tribal view of themselves and life remained too internalized to effect change.
What all this means to say is that this work by Anatjari is a treasure, and while it may not be an Anatjari masterwork in the strictest sense, it, nevertheless, is an important painting with substance and visual appeal.
Sales/information: Artspeak@bigpond.com
NOTE! Other Masters` works can be found throughout this site.
More paintings to come
All material on this site is protected by Australian and international copyright and other intellectual property laws. Users may not do anything which interferes with or breaches those laws or the intellectual property rights in the material. Where there is a wish to use expression: permission is granted on the basis that the source is acknowledged, this permission extends to the non-reproduction use of the art of Milanka J Sullivan, but does not include photographic material and does not include imagery belonging to Aboriginal Artists, which remains the sole property of the artist or artist`s estate. If unclear seek clarity.