Tjapaltjarri was chairperson of Papunya Tula Artists during the early 1980s. Encouraged by his brother Tim, Clifford Possum, who had already begun teaching woodcarving at the settlement, joined Bardons painting group, which later became the Papunya Tula Artists Company. This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. His obituaries, which appeared in newspapers around the world, generally referred to him as Clifford Possum and gave his age as about 70. The Gallery's purchase eased tensions of a rumoured Government legal intervention had the work been purchased by an overseas buyer, out of concern that significant indigenous art would be "lost" overseas. Video excerpt from the ABC documentary 'The Exhibitionists' on Australian female artist Janet Cumbrae Stewart. Over 60 major paintings, all with detailed annotations and spanning more than two decades of his output, are reproduced in this volume. His mother, Long Rose Nangala and father, Tjatjiti Tjungurrayi, were members of the Anmatyerre tribal group living on ancestral lands near Napperby cattle station. His two daughters, Gabriella Possum Nungurayyi and Michelle Possum Nungurayyi, are renowned artists in their own right. Possums family, like countless others, existed on government and mission rations with occasional low-paid work on nearby cattle farms. [13] Clifford Possum would often collaborate with other artists, particularly his brother Tim Leura, and the brothers together created the 1976 work of the same name. LANGUAGE GROUP: Anmatyerre Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (1932-2002) Collections: Artbank Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wale Read More. Possum was of the Anmatyerre culture-linguistic group from around Alherramp (Laramba) community. Colonial Australian Art. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. Reed Enger, "Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Reclaiming the land," in Obelisk Art History, Published January 16, 2020; last modified November 06, 2022, http://www.arthistoryproject.com/artists/clifford-possum-tjapaltjarri/. 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. Some features and content of this website may not work as intended. The incident led to the first conviction of an Australian art dealer for fraud and saw some malicious and undeserved criticism directed against the artist by a number of influential collectors. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Aboriginal Australian (Anmatyerre), 1932-2002 Perentie Dreaming, c. 1986 Acrylic on canvas Signed in graphite to verso, unframed. Clifford Possum accurately described this period as the killing times. [citation needed]. 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. [3] The authors of the National Gallery of Australia's book, Collection Highlights, characterises the painting as the artist's most significant. He will be sadly missed by those who worked with and knew him well, as well as art collectors and dealers around the world.He worked extensively as a stockman on the cattle stations in and around his traditional country. After accepting a commission in 1985 to paint a mural for the Araluen Art Centre, Possum moved his family to Alice Springs, the first Papunya Tula artist to do so. That Dreaming carry on. This laid the foundation for traditional Aboriginal Iconography to be placed on canvas. 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. 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. Hailed as the master and pioneer of Central Western Dot painting, Clifford merged the traditional with the contemporary creating artworks which moved beyond their canvas speaking to all who gaze upon them. The move coincided with a growing interest in Western Desert art by private and public galleries, with financial support and commissions from the federal government, which was anxious to include paintings by Aborigines in the 1988 bicentennial celebrations and the new parliament house. Some of the many other famous Aboriginal artists who used dot art styles include . An Anmatyerr man, he was born on Napperby Station near Alice Springs and started his working life in the 1940s as a stockman. 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. 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. And they been using them on body different times.Kids, I see them all the time, painted. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was an Australian artist born in 1932. 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. Namatjira was the leading Aboriginal artist at the time, finding growing success for his realistic watercolour landscapes that captured the stark and unique beauty of central Australia. 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. 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. From our early days, before European people came up. Auction Closed 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. Geoffrey Bardon came to Papunya in the early 1970s and encouraged the Aboriginal people to put their dreaming . An Anmatyerr man, he was born on Napperby Station near Alice Springs and started his working life in the 1940s as a stockman. This large canvas (168.5 x 170.5cm) exceeded anything produced by the Papunya Tula artists, both in size and narrative complexity. 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. [17] It was purchased for A$1,200 by the Commonwealth Bank, which hung it in a bank training centre cafeteria on the Mornington Peninsula. Clifford Possum was born in 1932 on Napperby Station. [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. In 1999, Possum became embroiled in a public scandal after he initiated a police investigation into a Sydney exhibition of his work and identified most of the paintings on show as fake. Indigenous Australian Art Artists Possum Tjapaltjarri's Contemporaries Like Albert Namatjira before him, Clifford Possum blazed a trail for future generations of Indigenous artists; bridging the gap between Aboriginal art and contemporary Australian art. 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. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri started his working life at diverse stations across Central Australia, where he acquired his impressive linguistic repertoire of six Western Desert languages, including his native Anmatyerr, and a little bit English. [9] Like the other four works of the period that are symbolic maps of the artist's country, the painting is accompanied by annotated diagrams of the images and notes that explain the dreamings that they include. 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. Through his remarkable paintings, Clifford Possums unique images and stories will endure. 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. In June he received the Order of Australia for his pioneering work in the development of the Western Desert Art movement, and was to be officially invested with the award on the day he died. May 10, 2020 - Australian Aboriginal Artist. 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. After his father's death in the 1940s his mother married Gwoya Jungarai, better known as One Pound Jimmy, whose image was used on a well known Australian postage stamp. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Anmatyerr people (1932-2002), Warlugulong 1977. Born in a creek bed on Napperby cattle station, Clifford Possum worked from late boyhood as a stockman. c.1932- 21 June 2002 Forty years ago, Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, Tim Leura, Clifford Possum and Johnny Warangula were central to the constitution of contemporary desert art at Papunya. 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 and went on to create some of the largest and most complex paintings ever produced". 1-20 out of 145 LOAD MORE. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was born c. 1932 to Tjatjiti Tjungurrayai and Long Rose Nangala in Tjuirri, an area north-west of Alice Springs also known as Napperby Station. Through the sheer power and beauty of his paintings, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri introduced his culture to the rest of Australia and then, to the world. Consequently, Johnson's portrait of Tjapaltjarri includes symbols, objects and vignettes from Tjapaltjarri's life in a composition that evokes the sitter's presence and biography as well as his inner world and a deep cultural knowledge unconstrained by time. In the late 1970s to the early 1980s, Clifford Possum was Chairman of this group and in 1990 presented the Queen Elizabeth II with one of his paintings. 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. Like many other Anmatyerr people, his family moved to the east region of their country following the Coniston Massacre of the mid-1920s. Possums father was taken prisoner during the assault. He worked at various stations throughout Central Australia, acquiring several languages and developing a profound knowledge of the Dreaming trails and sites around the McDonnell Ranges. He was the chairman of the Papunya Tula Artists from the 1970's to the 1980's. We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of NSW stands. Free entry, Find out what you need to know before visiting, Tradition today: Indigenous art in Australia. Between 1976 and 1979, Tjapaltjarri created a series of large 'map paintings' in which he portrayed these trails as deeds of title to his ancestral land. 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. He is one of Australia's most distinguished and best-selling painters of the late twentieth century. Carved snake (view from behind), 1973, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, pigment on wood, 71 x 40 x 15 cm. It has been said that her work "enabled the flowering of a whole new generation of Aboriginal artists". stated in. Police claimed that the Aborigines had killed a local dingo hunter. His obituaries, which appeared in newspapers around the world, generally referred to him as Clifford Possum and gave his age as about 70. The artwork description is incredibly detailed and will give the owner an amazing insight into both Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and also the artworks of the early Papunya Tula artists who moved from sandpaintings to canvas in the 1970's. A very rare opportunity to acquire a work of this calibre at a considerably discounted price. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (1932-2002) Collections: Artbank Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wale Read More. Business time we don't use paints the way I use them, no we use them from rock, teach 'em all the young fellas. Tjapaltjarri worked alongside many of Australias discrete indigenous cultures, mastering six Western Desert languages and absorbing a vast swath of the traditional stories of the Dreaming. 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. COMMUNITY: Alice Springs, NT, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was born in Tjuirri, an area north west of Alice Springs also known as Napperby Station. The Papunya movement began in 1971 when Western Desert men began painting their traditional designs onto small boardsdesigns that were previously confined to . He was chosen by Papunya Tula Artists to paint, with his brother Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, the large canvas that became Warlugulong, 1976, for a BBC documentary, Desert Dreamers. In 1976 a BBC documentary crew traveled deep into Australias Northern Territory to watch Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and his brother Tim Leura paint a masterpiece. See opening hours Possum's father was Tjatjiti Tjungurrayai and his mother was Long Rose Nangala. It lives at the National Gallery of Australia in Australia. It exemplifies a distinctive painting style developed by Papunya Tula artists in the 1970s, and blends representation of landscape with ceremonial iconography. 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 Possum PROVENANCE: Aboriginals Art of The First Person; Acquired from the above by the current owner, December 18, 1992. In between working as a stockman, Possum had begun carving wood. Geoffrey Bardon came to Papunya in the early 1970s and encouraged the Aboriginal people to put their dreaming stories on canvas, stories which had previously been depicted ephemerally on the ground. Going, going, gone: The painting sold for $2.4 million. List of all 145 artworks by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. 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. "Clifford is one of the most renown Aboriginal Artists of his time. Genres. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri led a ground-breaking career and was amongst the vanguard of Indigenous Australian artists to be recognised by the international art world. Tim Johnson, Tim Johnson He made a significant impact in 1971 and remained inarguably a noteworthy artist even after his death in 2002. Warlugulong was Tjapaltjarris first monumental canvas, and became the template for a series of large-scale paintings made through the late 1970s. How much is your Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri worth? We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present. At first appearing abstract, small human and animal footprints reveal them as maps combining landmarks of Tjapaltjarris country of Tjukurrpa with metaphysical symbols, events and characters from the Dreaming. Clifford Possum was the first recognised star of the Western Desert art and one of Australia's most distinguished painters of the late twentieth century. View sold price and similar items: CLIFFORD POSSUM TJAPALTJARRI (c1933 - 2002) Corroboree, Naprerby Station acrylic on canvas 122 x 99.5 cm (stretched and ready to han. For further information please contact NPG Copyright. A little closer to the centre of the painting are marks representing a dreaming called the Chase of the Goanna Men. Possum was of the Anmatyerre culture-linguistic group from around Alherramp (Laramba) 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. Collections include the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra and the New South Wales Art Gallery in Sydney. Warlugulong is a 1977 acrylic on canvas painting by Indigenous Australian artist Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. 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. Go to Artist page. Painting, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 202.0 h x 337.5 w cm. His paintings show superlative skill, incredible inventiveness of form and are visually spectacular.Clifford's work is contemporary but essentially Aboriginal in inspiration. After his father, Tjatjiti Tjungurrayai, passed away during Clifford's youth in the 1940s, his mother, Long Rose Nangala, settled at Jay Creek with her second husband, One Pound Jim Tjungurrayai. Showing Editorial results for clifford possum tjapaltjarri. Video, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri 'Warlugulong'. However, beyond this general principle, she argues that the layout of symbols and images is influenced by the desire to present a symmetrical work. Cattle rustler, rum runner, brilliant painter, By continuing to browse Obelisk you agree to our Cookie Policy. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was born on Napperby Station about 200 kilometres north-west of Mparntwe (Alice Springs). His brother was Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, whose artwork appeared on another stamp. 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. This broad stretch of territory defined the diversity of subject matter in Clifford's paintings. Deborah Hart, Head Curator, Australia Art, leads a conversation with Australian artists Fiona Hall and Judy Watson (Waanyi people). 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. DOB: (Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2004). 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. Human footprints include a set left by dancing women from a place called Aileron; another shows a family group travelling to a place called Ngama, and a third trail is that of a Tjungurrayi man, which lead to his skeleton, representing his death after committing the crime of trying to steal sacred items. Video, Know My Name 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. 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. Art critic Benjamin Genocchio describes it as "a work of real national significance [and] one of the most important 20th-century Australian paintings". Possum was one of the first Aboriginal artists to use acrylic paint for what is now known as the dot art style. The other artists working with him took his lead and removed any elements of European Art from their work. Papunya Tula Artists Ltd. was formed in 1972. 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. He is one of Australia's most distinguished and best-selling painters of the late twentieth century. Tim Johnson became interested in the Papunya Tula Artists after seeing an exhibition of their paintings in Sydney in 1977. [4] He was buried at Yuelamu, which had been the preference of his community and daughters, several weeks after his death.[5]. I use paint and canvas that's not from us, from European people. Open Air is an exhibition of portraits of Australians in environments of particular significance to them. Source See Warlugulong in the Kaleidoscope. [6][7] Clifford Possum was the first to make this transition commencing with a related painting, also titled Warlugulong (1976), now held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In the early 1950s the artist went to live at a recently opened lodge that catered to tourists drawn to the area by the landscapes of the Hermannsburg Mission watercolourists. Clifford Possum emerged as one of the leaders in this school of painting, which has come to be called the Western Desert Art Movement. Tjapaltjarri, Clifford Possum (c. 1932-2002) Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia/ Bridgeman Berlin. [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". Flinders University Art Museum Collection. The National Museum of Australia acknowledges First Australians and recognises their continuous connection to Country, community and culture. At last, The Art of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri presents a comprehensive account of the work of this extraordinary artist. They been using the dancing boards, spear, boomerang all painted. Purchased. 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. In 1976, with the assistance of Tim Leura, he painted Warlugulong 1976, which he later described as his number one painting. Clifford, living at the Papunya Community, was one of the first artists to be involved with the Aboriginal Art Movement. Often these techniques would be carefully interwoven into an integrated composition, overlaid with more dots to producing an illusion of changing spatial depth. 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