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. By the time he started visiting Papunya in the mid-1960s he had a well-established reputation as a woodcarver, based on his talent for capturing lifelike effects of motion. An Anmatyerr man, he was born on Napperby Station near Alice Springs and started his working life in the 1940s as a stockman. 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. Sep 12, 2021 - Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was the first recognized star of the Western Desert art movement. Possum's parents were from the Anmatyerre people, and he was born in an isolated, dry creek bed, 200 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs, in June 1932. 1977. CLIFFORD POSSUM TJAPALTJARRI (AUSTRALIAN, 1932-2002) View catalog Sold: $11,000.00 Estimate: $8,000 - $14,000 November 19, 2022 10:00 AM CST St. Louis, MO, US Request more information Additional Details Description: Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Aboriginal Australian (Anmatyerre), 1932-2002 Perentie Dreaming, c. 1986 Acrylic on canvas 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. In 1928 police shot and killed nearly 100 Aborigines at the infamous Coniston massacre. Born: Napperby, Northern Territory, Australia circa 1932, Died: Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia 21 Jun 2002, Language group: [1] His older brother Cassidy Possum Tjapaltjarri was a traditionalist who barely gone outside of the Yuelamu community and was one of the most respected elders till his passing in 2006, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was the most famous of the contemporary artists who lived around Papunya, in the Northern Territory's Western Desert area, when the acrylic painting style (known popularly as "dot art") was initiated. His older brother Cassidy Possum Tjapaltjarri was a traditionalist who barely gone outside of the Yuelamu community and was one of most respected elder till his passing in 2006, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was the most famous of the contemporary artists who lived around Papunya, in the Northern Territory's Western Desert area, when the acrylic painting style (known popularly as "dot art") was initiated. She concludes that there is "a topographic rationale for the order in which the Dreamings appear from left to right (that is, east to west) across the painting [as well as for] the transverse Dreaming trails". [12] As of 2016, the work is on display in the National Gallery. This writer had the opportunity to meet Clifford Possum at an exhibition of his paintings and sculpture held at a small inner city Sydney gallery in August 2001, a few months before he became seriously ill. A gentle and quiet-spoken man with a light-hearted sense of humour, Possum was proud of his life as a stockman and passionate about his artistic work. [17] The artist also modified some of the iconography, and limited the explanations of the painting, omitting secret-sacred dimensions of the stories to avoid offending other Indigenous men, and in recognition that most of the audience for the work would be uninitiated non-Indigenous people. Open Air is an exhibition of portraits of Australians in environments of particular significance to them. This painting depicts the sacred Bushfire Dreaming story. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri AO (1932 21 June 2002) was an Australian painter, considered to be one of the most collected and renowned Australian Aboriginal artists. 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. Later that year he travelled to the US to attend the Dreamings exhibition at New Yorks Asia Society Galleries. The artist's works have gone up for sale at public auction 402 times, mostly in the Painting category. [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. Research 10 Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri prices and auction results in Art. 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. stated in. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Possum & Rock Wallaby Dreaming - Napperby, ca. When it held an exhibition of his work in 2004, the Art Gallery of New South Wales described his artistic background: Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri died in Alice Springs on the day he was scheduled to be invested with the Order of Australia for his contributions to art and to the Indigenous community. The work had been tipped to fetch up to A$2.5 million, more than double the then-record for Aboriginal art at auction. Old people carry on this law, business, schooling for the young people. Grandfather and grandmother, uncle and aunty, mummy and father, all that, they been carry on this, teach 'em all the young boys and girls. Warlugulong 1976 and several paintings by Aboriginal artists was exhibited at the inaugural Australian Perspecta at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1981, the first time Aborigines had been included in a general survey of Australian contemporary work. Closed Good Friday & Christmas day 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. He made a significant impact in 1971 and remained inarguably a noteworthy artist even after his death in 2002. His work has travelled extensively around the world, including 'Dreamings - The Art of Aboriginal Australia' in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and St Louis. Possum was one of the first Aboriginal artists to use acrylic paint for what is now known as the dot art style. He is considered as one of the most famous Central Western Desert artist to dominate the Aboriginal art scene. [12] Artist and curator Brenda L Croft agreed, considering it "an epic painting, encyclopaedic in both content and ambition" and "the artist's most significant work". His subjects usually snakes and lizards were the same ancestral beings later seen in his paintings. Description. c.1932- 21 June 2002 In 1976, with the assistance of Tim Leura, he painted Warlugulong 1976, which he later described as his number one painting. Video excerpt from the ABC documentary 'The Exhibitionists' on First Nations Australian female artist Karla Dickens, Wiradjuri people. While his year of birth is considered to be approximately correct, the day and month remain undocumented. One [] Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri AO (1932 - 21 June 2002) was an Australian painter, considered one of the most collected and renowned Australian Aboriginal artists. information@nga.gov.au 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. [9], Around this central motif are arranged elements of eight other stories, all of them represented at least in part by sets of footprints. Get art in your inbox, The National Gallery acknowledges the First Peoples of this land and recognises their continuous connection to culture, community and Country, First Nations 193221. [4] The youngest was Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, encouraged by his older brother Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri. Often these techniques would be carefully interwoven into an integrated composition, overlaid with more dots to producing an illusion of changing spatial depth. By the 1970's he was one of the most accomplished carvers in Central Australia. This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Over 60 major paintings, all with detailed annotations and spanning more than two decades of his output, are reproduced in this volume. Possum Tjapaltjarri contributed to the Indigenous Australian Art movement and died on June 21, 2002. 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. [8] The two images are amongst five that the artist created between 1976 and 1979 that linked the iconography of sacred stories to geographic representation of his country the land to which he belonged and about which he had traditional knowledge. Submit artwork for exhibitions 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. COMMUNITY: Alice Springs, NT, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was born in Tjuirri, an area north west of Alice Springs also known as Napperby Station. 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. [17], Johnson's analysis of the painting emphasises the relationship between the representation of geographical sites in the Yuendumu region and the dreaming stories associated with those sites. #aboriginal art #australian painting #aboriginal art #aboriginal painting #papunya #western desert #painting #australian art #indigenous australian art #art aborigne #Kunst der . The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. The art of Clifford Possum is notable for its brilliant manipulation of three-dimensional space. [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. Tjapaltjarri had been a part of the Papunya art community for four years and was one of their most successful and respected artists, but it was his previous career as a stockman working on central Australias pastoral stations, or ranches, that made him uniquely qualified for the project. 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, died in Alice Springs on June 21. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, AO (c.1937 - 2002) Australia's Most Celebrated Aboriginal Artist. Clifford possum tjapaltjarri warlugulong 2007 Background Contemporary Indigenous Australian art originated with the Indigenous men of Papunya, located around 240 kilometres (150 mi) northwest of Alice Springs in Australia's Western Desert, who began painting in 1971. These included a number of paintings depicting Warlugulong, the Bushfire Dreaming story relating to his mother's birthplace. In the late 1970's he expanded the scope of Papunya Tula painting by placing the trails of several ancestors on the same canvas in the fashion of a road map. The National Gallery acknowledges the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the Kamberri/Canberra region, and recognises their continuous connection to culture, community and Country. Police claimed that the Aborigines had killed a local dingo hunter. By the mid-1970s he was chairman of the company and had emerged as one of its most inventive artists. Over the next decade he would become the most widely travelled Aboriginal artist of his generation and an ambassador for Aboriginal art around the world. 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. The conceptual purity of these works is a precursor to Clifford Possum's unparalleled skill in conjuring objects in space, describing the physical relationships below, above and beyond objects. In 1972 Clifford Possum was introduced to the emergent painting movement at Papunya by his cousin Kaapa Tjapitjinpa and brother Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri. Indian Artist Australian Art Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (circa 1930-2002) Untitled (Possum Ceremony) Estimate: AU$ 120,000 - 180,000 78,000 - 120,000 US$ 130,000 - 190,000 Aboriginal Dot Painting Aboriginal Artists Indigenous Australian Art Indigenous Art Gallery Website Outsider Art Native Art Got questions, comments or corrections about Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri? Clifford developed his own unique style that included secular non-traditional motifs. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri AO (c. 19322002) was a founding member of the artists cooperative established at Papunya in the early 1970s and one of the most renowned practitioners within the Western Desert art movement. Tjapaltjarri was 44, and one of the founders of a flourishing art community in the small aboriginal village of Papunya. The Papunya movement began in 1971 when Western Desert men began painting their traditional designs onto small boardsdesigns that were previously confined to . The image is used according to Educational Fair Use, and tagged Maps. 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. It has been said that her work "enabled the flowering of a whole new generation of Aboriginal artists". His determination to express and pass on his ancestral stories to the next generation became the means for forging his distinct artistic vision. Some of the many other famous Aboriginal artists who used dot art styles include . They been using ochres all the colours from the rock. Find out more about Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri at the Aboriginal Art Directory Prodigy at Eighty - The Miracle of Emily Posted by Frannie Hopkirk | 2014-03-05 18:19:07 Emily Kame Kngwarreye. Source See Warlugulong in the Kaleidoscope. Papunya Tula Artists Ltd. was formed in 1972. www.redrockgallery.net/pages/Clifford-Possum-Tjapaltjarri.html. 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. Albrecht from Hermannsburg Lutheran mission noticed that the young Clifford was suffering from severe malnutrition during one of these visits and arranged for him to be nursed back to health at the mission and then returned to his mother. [5] A number of the men developed a distinctive style of narrative painting that, beginning around 1976, resulted in the production of several "monumental" works that included representations of both their traditional lands and of ceremonial iconography. This was the last Aboriginal settlement built under the Menzies Liberal governments racist assimilation policy. It exemplifies a distinctive painting style developed by Papunya Tula artists in the 1970s, and blends representation of landscape with ceremonial iconography. When Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri joined this group of 'dot and circle' painters early in 1972 he immediately distinguished himself as one of its most talented members[2] and went on to create some of the largest and most complex paintings ever produced. Contemporary Indigenous Australian art is a national movement of international significance with work by Indigenous artists, including paintings by those from the Western Desert, achieving widespread critical acclaim. http://www.arthistoryproject.com/artists/clifford-possum-tjapaltjarri/. WARLUGULONG 1977. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Anmatyerr people (1932-2002), Warlugulong 1977. This large canvas (168.5 x 170.5cm) exceeded anything produced by the Papunya Tula artists, both in size and narrative complexity. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra, and William Sandy are some of the best known Papunya artists. 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