Diploma Lecture Series 2011 Art and Australia ll: European Preludes and Parallels Seeing the centre: the art of Albert Namatjira Alison French 25 / 26 May 2011 ALBERT NAMATJIRA 1902 -1959 SUBJECT/OBJECT/AGENT 1 TITLE 2 SUB TITLE SUBJECT/OBJECT/AGENT 3 Albert Namatjira, 1958, Frank Johnston (Photographer). National Library of Australia 4 (LEFT) Albert Namatjira, 1958, Frank Johnston (Photographer). National Library of Australia (RIGHT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Across the Plain to Mount Giles, c. 1955, watercolour over pencil on paper, Collection The Araluen Centre Alice Springs 5 Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Across the Plain to Mount Giles, c. 1955, watercolour over pencil on paper, Collection The Araluen Centre Alice Springs 6 (UPPER LEFT) Exhibition of Paintings by the Arunta Group, Brisbane, July 1949. Fifty–one paintings from the private collection of Mr. O. A (Oswald) Wallent, who organised the exhibition. Exhibition sponsored by the Brisbane Telegraph with proceeds donated to the Arunta Group, Hermannsburg Mission (UPPER RIGHT) Exhibition of Paintings by the Arunta Group. Brisbane Telegraph Auditorium, Brisbane Qld, 5 to 12 June 1954. Exhibition sponsored by the Brisbane Telegraph (LOWER LEFT) Albert Namatjira painting Mount Hermannsburg c. 1950s Pastor SO Gross (photographer) National Library of Australia. (LOWER RIGHT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Mount Hermannsburg, Finke River, c. 1946-51, watercolour over pencil on paper, National Gallery of Australia 7 UPPER LEFT AND RIGHT) Albert Namatjira, 1958, Frank Johnston (Photographer). National Library of Australia (LOWER LEFT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Across the Plain to Mount Giles, c. 1955, watercolour over pencil on paper, Araluen Centre Alice Springs (LOWER RIGHT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Mount Sonder, MacDonnell ranges, c. 1957- 1959, watercolour over pencil on paper, National Gallery of Australia 8 (LEFT) Unknown Photographer, Albert Namatjira and William Dargie, National Library of Australia (RIGHT) William Dargie (1912-2007), Albert Namatjira, 1958, oil on canvas mounted on composition board, National Portrait Gallery 9 * (LEFT) William Dargie (1912 -2007), Portrait of Albert Namatjira, 1956, oil on canvas, Queensland Art Gallery * (RIGHT) Noel Counihan (1913-1986), Albert Namatjira, 1959, after, stencil screen print from one screen taken from original linocut 2nd state. National Gallery of Australia 10 Wieke Duyker, Bushland pottery, working 1960, Albert Namatjira, paint on terracotta, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Battarbee Collection 11 SUB TITLE: KEY INFLUENCES 12 Axel Poignant (1906–1986), Albert Namatjira and his family, Northern Territory. Seated left to right: his wife, Rubina; son, Ewald, and father, Jonathan. Standing left to right: his daughters, Maisie and Hazel, 1946, printed 1981, gelatin silver photograph, Art Gallery of NSW. Image courtesy of Roslyn Poignant 13 (left) Axel Poignant (1906–1986), Albert Namatjira's father Jonathon Namatjira, 1946, printed 1981, gelatin silver photograph, Art Gallery of NSW. (right) Axel Poignant (1906–1986), Jonathon Namatjira, father of Albert Namatjira, 1946, gelatin silver photograph, National Archives of Australia A1200:L7855A1200:L7855. Images courtesy of Roslyn Poignant 14 Rex Battarbee painting, central Australia, ca. 1946, National Library of Australia 15 (UPPER CENTRE) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Untitled, c. 1938, watercolour over pencil on paper. Newcastle Region Art Gallery * (LOWER LEFT) Rex Battarbee (1893 -1973) Not titled landscape, 1936, watercolour over pencil on paper. National Gallery of Australia (LOWER CENTRE) Rex Battarbee (1893 -1973) James Range, Central Australia, 1934, watercolour over pencil on paper. Flinders University Art Museum 16 (UPPER) Albert Namatjira, (1902-1959), Untitled (Central Australia Landscape), undated, watercolour over pencil on carved wood, clear varnish, spinifex resin and kangaroo sinew binding. Provenance: Aranda Arts, Hermannsburg circa 1945. Purchased by William Graham Stuart who was stationed in Alice Springs between 1942-45. Private collection (LOWER) Albert Namatjira, (1902-1959), A Boomerang (Central Australia Landscape), undated, watercolour and pencil on carved wood, clear varnish. Private collection 17 (LEFT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Ghost Gum, c 1945, watercolour over pencil on paper. National Gallery of Australia (RIGHT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Ghost Gum, Glen Helen, c.1950, watercolour over pencil on paper. National Gallery of Australia 18 (LEFT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Ghost Gum, c 1945, watercolour over pencil on paper. National Gallery of Australia (RIGHT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Ghost Gum, c 1945, watercolour over pencil on paper. National Gallery of Australia 19 (UPPER LEFT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959) , Untitled ( Central Australian Landscape), c 1953 watercolour over pencil on paper, Private Collection (UPPER RIGHT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959) , The Western MacDonnell Range, central Australia, c 1957 watercolour over pencil on paper, Private Collection * (LOWER LEFT) Otto Pareroultja, (1914-1973), The Hills behind Hermannsburg, c 1954, watercolour on paper, Art Gallery of New South Wales (LOWER RIGHT) Oscar Namatjira (1922-1991) , Untitled Landscape, Flinders University Art Museum 20 (LEFT) Una Teague (photographer), Albert Namatjira leading camels for Jessie Traill and Una Teague on trip from Hermannsburg to Palm Valley , 1932. Violet Teague Archive (UPPER RIGHT) Jessie Traill (1881–1967) Natives carrying faggotts of wood, and camel carts gathering sand, Hermannsburg 1928, watercolour on paper, Private Collection (LOWER RIGHT) Jessie Traill (1881–1967) Central Australian Landscape, 1928, watercolour on paper, Private Collection 21 SUB TITLE: LARLKINTANHERRAMA MOUNT HERMANNSBURG 22 (UPPER LEFT) Jessie Traill (1881–1967) Natives carrying faggotts of wood, and camel carts gathering sand, Hermannsburg 1928, watercolour on paper, Private Collection (LOWER LEFT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Hermannsburg, 1940, watercolour over pencil on paper. Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide (LOWER RIGHT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Mount Hermannsburg, 1936 or 1937, watercolour over pencil on paper. Araluen Centre, Alice Springs 23 (LEFT) Enos Namatjira (1920-1966), James Range, Central Australia, c. 1947 -1948, watercolour over pencil on paper, Private Collection (RIGHT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Mount Hermannsburg, watercolour over pencil on paper, Collection: Newcastle Regional Art Gallery 24 Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Mount Hermannsburg, Finke River, watercolour over pencil on paper, National Gallery of Australia 25 (UPPER) Walter Ebatarinja (19151968), Mt Hermannsburg from Nth East, 1949, watercolour on paperboard, Flinders University Art Museum * (LOWER) Walter Ebatarinja (19151968), Untitled (Mt Hermannsburg), c1950-1960, watercolour on paperboard, Flinders University Art Museum 26 Ivy Pareroultja painting at Ngurratjuta Iltja Ntjarra ‘Many hands27‘Art Centre, 29 Wilkinson Street, Alice Springs 27 SUB TITLE: FROM CAMELS TO CARS 28 Albert Namatjira, Mulga plaque (Constable McKinnon’s south west mounted camel patrol in Palm Valley) 1932, pokerwork on hardwood. Private collection, Canberra 29 My Centralian Camel Patrol Map 1945 to 1952. One wooden matchstick = 60 miles. Mounted Constable Ronald Agnew Brown. Finke NT. Northern Territory Archives 30 Detail from ‘My Centralian Camel Patrol Map 1945 to 1952. One wooden matchstick = 60 miles. Mounted Constable Ronald Agnew Brown. Finke NT’. Northern Territory Archives 31 Pictorial map of the Northern Territory for Australia’s One Hundredth and fiftieth Birthday Celebration 1938. Complied and drawn by E P Bayliss. Facsimile copy produced by the Department of Lands and Planning, Northern Territory Government 32 Detail from Pictorial map of the Northern Territory for Australia’s One Hundredth and fiftieth Birthday Celebration 1938. Complied and drawn by E P Bayliss. Facsimile copy produced by the Department of Lands and Planning, Northern Territory Government 33 (UPPER CENTRE) Albert Namatjira driving express buggy across the Finke River, 1923. Photograph by Mrs A E Heinrich. (LOWER LEFT) One of Albert Namatjira’s abandoned trucks inscribed ‘ALBERT NAMATJIRA ARTIST HAAST BLUFF’. Photographed by Colin Macdonald in 1960. Image courtesy of Mary Eagle (LOWER RIGHT) Albert Namatjira posed ‘at the wheel’ of his Dodge truck 1956. Inscribed ‘THIS VEHICLE PRESENTED BY AMPOL’ ‘ALBERT NAMATJIRA, ARTIST ALICE SPRINGS’ ‘Tare.1.12.2.0. Image courtesy of Mona Byrnes OAM 34 (LOWER LEFT) One of Albert Namatjira’s abandoned trucks inscribed ‘ALBERT NAMATJIRA ARTIST HAAST BLUFF’. Photographed by Colin Macdonald in 1960. Image courtesy of Mary Eagle (LOWER RIGHT) Albert Namatjira posed ‘at the wheel’ of his Dodge truck 1956. Inscribed ‘THIS VEHICLE PRESENTED BY AMPOL’ ‘ALBERT NAMATJIRA, ARTIST ALICE SPRINGS’ ‘Tare.1.12.2.0. Reproduced with permission of Mona Byrnes OAM 35 DISTRICT WELARE OFFICER SALE OF HOLDEN SEDAN TO ALBERT NAMATJIRA, 9TH MAY 1955 36 Albert Namatjira posed ‘at the wheel’ of his Dodge truck 1956. Inscribed ‘THIS VEHICLE PRESENTED BY AMPOL’ ‘ALBERT NAMATJIRA, ARTIST ALICE SPRINGS’ ‘Tare.1.12.2.0. Reproduced with permission of Mona Byrnes OAM 37 One of Albert Namatjira’s abandoned trucks inscribed ‘ALBERT NAMATJIRA ARTIST HAAST BLUFF’. Photographed by Colin Macdonald in 1960. Image courtesy of Mary Eagle 38 SUB TITLE: ANGKALE STANDLEY CHASM 39 (LEFT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Redbank Gorge, Central Australia, c.1936-37, watercolour over pencil on paper, Private Collection Melbourne. (CENTRE) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Quartatooma (Ormiston Gorge), 1939, watercolour and goauche over pencil on paper, Private Collection Adelaide. (RIGHT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Standley Chasm, c.1942-49, watercolour and goauche over pencil on paper, inscribed verso ‘The Chasm’, Collection of Dr Beverley Castleman, Melbourne 40 (LEFT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Quartatooma (Ormiston Gorge), 1939, watercolour and goauche over pencil on paper, Private Collection Adelaide. (RIGHT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Standley Chasm, c.1942-49, watercolour and goauche over pencil on paper, inscribed verso ‘The Chasm’, Collection of Dr Beverley Castleman, Melbourne 41 Unknown Photographer, Portrait of Albert Namatjira painting, Northern Territory, c 1946, National Library of Australia, nla.pic-vn4802384 and nla.pic-vn4802442 Albert Namatjira, Standley Chasm, c. 1942-49, watercolour and gouache over pencil on paper, Private Collection, Melbourne 42 (LEFT) Jessie Traill (1981-1967), Standley Chasm, 1928, intaglio etching, printed in brown ink with plate tone, from one plate. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. (CENTRE) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Standley Chasm, c.1942-49, watercolour and goauche over pencil on paper, inscribed verso ‘The Chasm’, Collection of Dr Beverley Castleman, Melbourne (RIGHT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Standley Chasm, c.1942-49, watercolour and goauche over pencil on paper, Private Collection, Melbourne 43 (LEFT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Palm Valley, James Range, c 1945, watercolour over pencil on paper. Private Collection, Adelaide (RIGHT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959 The Gorge (Simpsons Gap), c 1945, watercolour over pencil on paper. National Gallery of Australia 44 (LEFT) Angkale, Standley Chasm photographed by Anna McKenzie, 2006 (RIGHT) Peter Tjutjata Taylor (born 1940 -), Angkale, Standley Chasm, 2006, watercolour on paperboard. Image courtesy of Ngurratjuta Iltja Ntjarra ‘Many Hands ‘Art Centre 45 (LEFT) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), Quartatooma (Ormiston Gorge), 1939, watercolour and goauche over pencil on paper, Private Collection Adelaide. (UPPER RIGHT) Otto Pareroultja (1914-1973), Ghost Gum, Ormiston Gorge, Central Australia, 1940s, watercolour on paper, Private collection (LOWER RIGHT) Peter Tjutjatja Taylor( born 1940-), Ormiston Gorge on the Finke River, West MacDonnell Ranges, 2007, watercolour on paperboard. Image courtesy of Ngurratjuta Iltja Ntjarra ‘Many Hands ‘Art Centre 46 (UPPER LEFT) The Finke River, Ormiston Gorge, 2007. Photographer Anna McKenzie. Image courtesy of Ngurratjuta Iltja Ntjarra ‘Many Hands ‘Art Centre (LOWER RIGHT) Peter Tjutjatja Taylor( born 1940-), Ormiston Gorge on the Finke River, West MacDonnell Ranges, 2007, watercolour on paperboard. Image courtesy of Ngurratjuta Iltja Ntjarra ‘Many Hands ‘Art Centre 47 Kevin Namatjira ( born 1958-), Haast Bluff, Near Papunya, My Home Country, 2009, watercolour on paperboard. Image courtesy of Ngurratjuta Iltja Ntjarra ‘Many Hands ‘Art Centre Kevin Namatjira drawing with chalk on the back-wall panorama for the Big Hart Belvoir Street Theatre production of Namatjira October 2010 48 (UPPER LEFT) Art Gallery of New South Wales watercolour workshop , ART + Soul, October 2010 (left to right) Elton Wirri, Kevin Namatjira, Gloria Pannka and Ivy Pareroultja (LOWER RIGHT) Warwick Thornton, Ivy Pareroultja and Lenie Namatjira, Rrutjumpa (Mount Sonder), Art+Soul production still, 2009 Hibiscus Films Bibliography: Amadio, Nadine (ed.), Albert Namatjira: the life and work of an Australian painter, Macmillan, South Melbourne, Vic., 1986. Croft, Brenda 2009. “Albert’s Gift”, in “The Legacy of Albert Namatjira”, in Australian Aboriginal Art, Issue 1, March, April, May 2009, B5 Media, Darlinghurst NSW, pp. 72–75. This is an edited version of ‘Albert’s gift’, which was originally written for, and reproduced in its entirety in Indigenous art: Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth WA, pp. 76–93. Batty, Joyce D. Namatjira: wanderer between two worlds, Hodder and Stoughton, Melbourne, 1963. Brackenreg, John, Central Australian Artist: Albert Namatjira, Legend press, Sydney, 1984. Byrnes, Mona, Albert Namatjira, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs, 1984. Brooks, David, for Mpwarntwe people, The Arrernte landscape of Alice Springs, Institute for Aboriginal Development, IAD Press, Alice Springs, 1991. French, Alison 2002. Seeing the Centre. The Art of Albert Namatjira 1902–1959, NGA, Canberra ACT. Green, Jenny 1988. Pmere. Country in Mind. Arrernte Landscape Painters, Tangentyere Land Counci, Alice Springs NT. Hardy, Jane; Megaw JVS; Megaw, MR, (eds.) 1992. The Heritage of Namatjira: the Watercolourists of Central Australia, William Heineman, Australia, Melbourne Vic. Hall, V C, Namatjira of the Aranda, Rigby, Adelaide, 1962 Hoorn, Jeannette, ‘Hermannsburg’, in Jane Clark and Felicity Druce (eds), Violet Teague, 1872 –1951, Beagle Press, Roseville, NSW, 1999, pp. 98–9. Jones, Philip 2007. Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers, Wakefield Press, Adelaide, SA, pp. 304–335. Leslie, Donna. 2008. Aboriginal art: creativity and assimilation, Macmillan Art Publishing Melbourne, Vic. Mackenzie, Andrew, Albert Namatjira, 1902-1959: a biographical sketch, Oz Publishing, Brisbane 1988 McLean, Ian 1998. White Aborigines: Identity Politics in Australian Art, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK, pp. 98–104. Megaw, M. Ruth (ed.), 1991. The Heritage of Namatjira. Australian Exhibitions Touring Agency, Melbourne (exhibition catalogue, tour dates 1991 and 1993). Mountford, Charles P, The art of Albert Namatjira, Bread and Cheese Club, Melbourne, 1944. Roenfeldt, David et al, Western Arrarnta Picture Dictionary, IAD Press, Alice Springs, NT, 2006 Smith, Terry 2002. Transformations in Australian art: Volume 2, The Twentieth Century— Modernism and Aboriginality, Craftsman House, St Leonards, NSW. Strehlow, TGH, Rex Battarbee: artist and founder of the Aboriginal art movement in central. Australia, Legend Press, Sydney, 1956, p. 20. William Dargie (1912 -2007), Portrait of Albert Namatjira, 1956, oil on canvas, Queensland Art Gallery Noel Counihan (1913-1986), Albert Namatjira, 1959, after, stencil screen print from one screen taken from original linocut 2nd state. National Gallery of Australia Rex Battarbee (1893 -1973) Not titled landscape, 1936, watercolour over pencil on paper. National Gallery of Australia