Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri

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Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri, (c. 1927 - 5 September 2015), [1] an Anmatyerr man born at Ilpitirri near Mount Denison, was one of Australia's best-known artists of the Western Desert Art Movement, Papunya Tula. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Tjapaltjarri's mother was killed in the Coniston Massacre in 1928 and his father was away from the camp hunting and survived. [5] Tjapaltjarri was raised on Napperby Station by his aunt, the mother of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. In the 1960s he was working as a cook at Papunya when many of the Pintupi people were brought in from the west. Like Clifford, he began his artistic career carving wooden animals for the arts and crafts marketplace. He is credited with being one of the men who painted the Honey Ant Dreaming on the wall of the Papunya School at Geoff Bardon's request. He was, in the 1970s, one of the first chairmen of Papunya Tula Pty Ltd. [3] [6]

His key paintings represent his Dreamings, including those of the budgerigar, spider, wallaby, yam and wild potato. He also painted about men's ceremony and Law. [6]

Tjapaltjarri later moved west to Ilili, a pioneer in the Homelands movement, although in his later years he has spent much time in Alice Springs. He travelled to New York City in 1988 for the opening of the "Dreamings" show at the Asia Society and, along with Michael Nelson Jagamarra, created a sand painting as part of the exhibition. [6]

He spent much of his later life in Alice Springs and died there in 2015 when a resident at Hettie Perkins Aged Care Home. [6]

Collections

Tjapaltjarri's works are in national collections in Australia: [3]

Further reading

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ "Notice of intended distribution of decease estate". Northern Territory News . 17 September 2016. p. 42. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  2. ↑ Tan, Monica (14 September 2015). "Papunya's daughters: Australia's second generation of master dot painters". The Guardian .
  3. 1 2 3 "Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri". National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  4. ↑ "TJAPALTJARRI, Billy Stockman | QAGOMA Collection Online". collection.qagoma.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  5. ↑ McLean, Ian (2016), Rattling Spears A History of Indigenous Australian, Reaktion Books, p. 126, ISBN   978-1-78023-590-5
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Mens Ceremony by Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri from Papunya (including artist biography)". www.aboriginalartstore.com.au. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  7. ↑ Kreczmanski, Janusz B; Stanislawska-Birnberg, Margo, 1943-; Tjapaltjarri, Billy Stockman (2002), The Tjulkurra : Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri (1st ed.), J.B. Books, ISBN   978-1-876622-37-4 {{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)


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