The other artists working with him took his lead and removed any elements of European Art from their work. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. [notes 1] Owned for many years by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the work was sold by art dealer Hank Ebes on 24 July 2007, setting a record price for a contemporary Indigenous Australian art work bought at auction when it was purchased by the National Gallery of Australia for A$2.4million. His work has travelled extensively around the world, including 'Dreamings - The Art of Aboriginal Australia' in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and St Louis. 'Tjapaltjarri finally allowed to rest in peace', "Indigenous artwork tipped to sell for $2.5m", ABC News online, "Aboriginal Artwork sells for record price", News Limited, news.com.au, "National Gallery bought dot painting", 25 July 2007, Clifford Possum - An Audio Interview with Aboriginal Artist Malcolm Jagamarra, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Clifford_Possum_Tjapaltjarri&oldid=1101388819, Clifford Possum, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjari, This page was last edited on 30 July 2022, at 19:35. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri is arguably the most famous male Central Western Desert artist, who from 1971 until his death in 2002 dominated the Aboriginal art scene. Police claimed that the Aborigines had killed a local dingo hunter. Posthumously, Tjapaltjarri's works are drawing increasing attention. Clifford Possum emerged as one of the leaders in this school of painting, which has come to be called the Western Desert Art Movement. TheCompanion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (American, 1932-2002)Dingo Dreaming Oil on canvas 50-1/2 x 28 inches(128.3 x 71.1 cm) Signed on the reverse: Clifford Poss.. 61: CLIFFORD POSSUM TJAPALTJARRI (c. 1932 - 2002) "Worm Dreaming Napperby" Est: AUD 2,000 - AUD 4,000 View sold prices Jan. 04, 2023 Ozbid Auctions LEICHHARDT, NSW, AU He began carving in his late teens and had a reputation as a craftsman before the Papunya painting movement began. In 1988 and 1990 Tjapaltjarris work was featured in London galleries, bringing an international audience to Papunyas flourishing art practice. Find an AIE artist Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri - Artist Biography Shopping Cart | Wish List | About Us Artworks Exhibitions Buying Guide Our Services Art & Culture Contact Us Search Aboriginal Artworks Text Search Search Website Colour Range Size and Shape Range Size: Shape: Price Range On Sale Low: High: Region & Theme Source See Warlugulong in the Kaleidoscope. In 1928 police shot and killed nearly 100 Aborigines at the infamous Coniston massacre. Tim Johnson became interested in the Papunya Tula Artists after seeing an exhibition of their paintings in Sydney in 1977. [6] The work, in fact, sold for $2.4 million;[7][8] the following day, it was revealed that the National Gallery of Australia had been the buyer. ABN 70 592 297 967|The National Museum of Australia is an Australian Government Agency, Utopia: The Genius of Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Old Masters: Australia's Great Bark Artists, Australia's Defining Moments Digital Classroom. (age55in2002), Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri AO [8] The work and the price it achieved at auction in 2007 are cited as evidence of both the importance of Clifford Possum as an artist, and of the maturation and growth of the Australian Indigenous art market. award rationale. Despite this success and his prolific output, Possums fame did not bring great personal wealth or security. He worked extensively as a stockman on the cattle stations in and around his traditional country. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, post 1976, Alice Springs/Northern Territory/Australia, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and his brother Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri were selected by Papunya Tula Artists. But a year later his brother Tim died, deeply affecting Possum and ending many years of a close artistic collaboration. Master weaver Yvonne Koolmatrie is passionate about preserving the near lost art of Ngarrindjeri weaving. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. Showing Editorial results for clifford possum tjapaltjarri. (Sotheby's) A dot painting by Indigenous artist Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri broke the existing record for an Aboriginal artwork at auction . Some of the many other famous Aboriginal artists who used dot art styles include . During the '70s and '80s, he and his family lived at Papunya, Napperby Station, M'bunghara outstation near Glen Helen, and then Alice Springs. Conditions were so bad during these years that Possums father perished from lack of water. Sale Date: October 23, 2021. The work, in fact, sold for $2.4 million; the following day, it was revealed that the National Gallery of Australia had been the buyer. Possums first contact with Europeans was through his father, who sold dingo scalps in exchange for tea and flour at the Jay Creek government ration depot. This website contains names, images and voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. See our exhibitions Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was born in 1932 in Alice Springs on a creek bed on Nagger by Station. In 1980 he began visiting the Papunya settlement and came to know Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, Michael Nelson Jagamara and others, who invited him to paint with them. Deborah Hart, Head Curator, Australia Art, leads a conversation with Australian artists Fiona Hall and Judy Watson (Waanyi people). Clifford POSSUM TJAPALTJARRI - Love Story 1997, 91 x 145cm ADG:1074 ADG: 1074 Description CLICK HERE TO VIEW ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Love Story - Story of painting This painting tells of a young Tjungurrayi man who fell in love with a Napangati woman, however she was the wrong skin group and was not allowed to marry him. While his year of birth is considered to be approximately correct, the day and month remain undocumented. For service as a contributor to and pioneer of the development of the Western Desert art movement, and to the indigenous community through interpretation of ancient traditions and cultural values. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. Art critic Benjamin Genocchio describes it as "a work of real national significance [and] one of the most important 20th-century Australian paintings". [16], While the painting has been described as showing the story of an ancestral being called Lungkata starting the first bushfire,[13] it portrays elements of nine distinct dreamings, of which Lungkata's tale is the central motif. In 1988, the Institute of Contemporary Art in London organised a retrospective it was Tjapaltjarris first solo exhibition and the first time an Australian Aboriginal artist had been honoured in this way by the international art world. [23] Warlugulong's buyer was the National Gallery of Australia, which purchased the work as part of its 25th Anniversary Gifts Program. In the 1940's, Clifford and his family re-located to Jay Creek, where he became a stockman, working at several stations throughout the area. Closed Good Friday & Christmas day This meant removing them from tribal lands and herding them into settlements. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri REGION: PAPUNYA - NORTHERN TERRITORY LANGUAGE: ANMATYERRE B. He was of the Peltharr skin. Genres. Similar to many Aboriginal artists of this time, he began his working career as a stockman on various cattle stations established on his ancestral country and later was employed in the construction of the Papunya settlement. He learnt ancestral stories from elders like One Pound Jim Tjungurrayi, who took on the role of his father, and was famous for his extensive knowledge of the country. His first opportunity to paint came when one of Albert Namatjira's sons gave him acrylic paints and the master began his work. His paintings are held in galleries and collections in Australia and elsewhere, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Australia, the Kelton Foundation and the Royal Collection. The artist's works have gone up for sale at public auction 402 times, mostly in the Painting category. He made a significant impact in 1971 and remained inarguably a noteworthy artist even after his death in 2002. All the young fellas they go hunting and the old people there, they do sand painting. Bears artist's name and title on Art Gallery of South Australia, Clifford Possum Tjapalatjarri Retrospective Tour label, on the protective foam core backing attached to the reverse of stretcher. Four years prior to his birth, a harsh drought had compelled several groups of Aborigines into the Coniston area, producing tensions with local farmers who wanted the scarce water resources for their cattle. This large canvas (168.5 x 170.5cm) exceeded anything produced by the Papunya Tula artists, both in size and narrative complexity. In 1983 Possums Mulga Seed Dreaming won the 14th Alice Prize, an important breakthrough. The auction house trading the work expected it to fetch around $5,000 and did not make a feature of it in the catalogue, but dealers including Hank Ebes, the successful bidder, recognised the painting's significance and it sold for $36,000 plus commission. [21][22], Warlugulong was first exhibited at a show in Alice Springs, where it attracted crowds of interested viewers, but failed to sell. It is named after the place west of Yuendumu where the fire began, indicated by the concentric circles at the centre of the glowing fire-burst, which conveys the explosive nature of the fire. It sold for $2.4million, thoroughly eclipsing the previous record for an Indigenous Australian painting, set when Emily Kngwarreye's Earth's Creation was bought in May of the same year for just over $1million. For further information please contact NPG Copyright. Namatjira, recognising his obvious talent, inquired whether he wanted to learn to paint in his style. He is and has always been regarded as the leading figure in Australian Aboriginal Art.Copyright Kate Owen Gallery May 2022, Copyright 2022 Kate Owen Gallery Pty Ltd. Mr Clifford POSSUM Tjapaltjarri. Photo: Professor JVS Megaw, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Possum_Tjapaltjarri. This was the last Aboriginal settlement built under the Menzies Liberal governments racist assimilation policy. Diversity in the Desert. His final days were spent at the Hetty Perkins Nursing Home in Alice Springs, where he passed away surrounded by close family and friends. Some features and content of this website may not work as intended. Art lovers and collectors, both here and around the world, have held the Desert Masters in high regard, because of the efforts by individuals such as Clifford.Clifford passed away in Alice Springs on the 21st June 2002, after recently being recognised for his contribution to Australian Art and culture, by being made an "Officer of the Order of Australia". To appreciate its full richness it is imperative that it is seen not only by its colour, composition and balance, but by its mythological detail. Posthumously, Tjapaltjarri's works are drawing increasing attention. Other Aboriginal artists have incorporated western mediums into their work, such as Emily Kngwarreye, Rover Thomas, and Freddy Timms. Forty years ago, Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, Tim Leura, Clifford Possum and Johnny Warangula were central to the constitution of contemporary desert art at Papunya. They been using ochres all the colours from the rock. Njega i njegove sunarodnjake je 1960. australijska vlada preselila iz Zapadne pustinje u Alice Springs kako bi se lake asimilirali u zapadnu kulturu. We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of NSW stands. In the late 1950s he was employed, along with his older brother Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri and other Aborigines, to assist in the construction of Papunya settlement. He is one aboriginal Australia's best known artists. His determination to express and pass on his ancestral stories to the next generation became the means for forging his distinct artistic vision. There was legal controversy surrounding his burial, as his surviving family and community maintained he wished to be buried in a location different from that specified in his will. There was legal controversy surrounding his burial, as his surviving family and community maintained he wished to be buried in a location different from that specified in his will. They put down all the story, same like I do on canvas. Clifford Possum was already a woodcarver of reknown, and had been employed at Papunya School teaching woodcarving to the children and was Chairman of Papunya Tula Artists during the early 1980s. The National Museum of Australia acknowledges First Australians and recognises their continuous connection to Country, community and culture. Commissioned with funds from the Basil Bressler Bequest 2002 1977. After the death of his father, his mother married Gwoya Jungarai who was the first named Aboriginal person to appear on an Australian stamp and was known as 'One Pound Jimmy'. And they been using them on body different times.Kids, I see them all the time, painted. COMMUNITY: Alice Springs, NT, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was born in Tjuirri, an area north west of Alice Springs also known as Napperby Station. [email protected] When it held an exhibition of his work in 2004, the Art Gallery of New South Wales described his artistic background: He was an expert wood-carver and took up painting long before the emergence of the Papunya Tula School in the early 1970s. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons. See opening hours During this time he developed an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Dreaming Trails that criss-cross the area to the north of the western McDonnell Ranges, which he depicts in painting his Dreamings. One of the extraordinary qualities of Clifford's work and other Western Desert artists is that they are a visual writing and speak to the Aboriginal as books do to Europeans.When asked why he became an Artist, he answered,"That Dreaming been all the time. As an artist who frequently incorporates celestial-like symbols and motifs in his work, Johnson was drawn to the meditative and intricate quality of dotting and sought permission from the Papunya artists to employ it. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri AO (1932 - 21 June 2002) was an Australian painter, considered one of the most collected and renowned Australian Aboriginal artists. Chicago, Los Angeles and St Louis 1988, 'Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Paintings 1973-1986', retrospective exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; 1990 'l'ete . / Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, one of the acknowledged pioneers of the contemporary Australian Aboriginal art movement which emerged at Papunya settlement in central Australia in the early 1970s . His obituaries, which appeared in newspapers around the world, generally referred to him as Clifford Possum and gave his age as about 70. Purchased. Possum's father was Tjatjiti Tjungurrayai and his mother was Long Rose Nangala. The artist, who provided ongoing financial assistance to his extended family and close relatives, rarely saw the increasingly large sums of money that art dealers and gallery owners made from his work. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present. The Papunya movement began in 1971 when Western Desert men began painting their traditional designs onto small boardsdesigns that were previously confined to . Hundreds of Aborigines were forced from tribal lands. Phone:(02) 9555 5283 World:+612 9555 5283680 Darling St. Rozelle NSW 2039 Australia. While Possum declined the offer, he began to recognise the possibility of a vocation as a professional artist. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (c.1932-2002) was one of the truly visionary Australian artists of the twentieth century. While Possum never forgot the Christian teachings at Hermannsburg, he never fully embraced the religion, unlike his older brother who studied at Hermannsburg and was ordained as a Lutheran pastor. His father was born at Ngarlu, a location west of Mt. His paintings show superlative skill, incredible inventiveness of form and are visually spectacular.Clifford's work is contemporary but essentially Aboriginal in inspiration. Their works were mostly Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) stories, representing the creation of significant sites and landforms by ancestral beings along their paths of travel through traditional lands. You have Javascript disabled. In 1971, Geoffrey Bardon, a young teacher, arrived at Papunya. Papunya Tula Artists Ltd. was formed in 1972. One [] On the stations, Tjapaltjarri roamed the land that had been home to 50,000 years of aboriginal people, displaced by the rapid colonization of the early 1900s. 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