Eileen Napaltjarri

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Eileen Napaltjarri
Born1956 (1956)
Haasts Bluff, Northern Territory, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Known forPainting

Eileen Napaltjarri (born 1956) is a Pintupi-speaking Aboriginal Australian artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Eileen Napaltjarri, also known as Anyima Napaltjarri, began painting for Papunya Tula artists' cooperative in 1996. She was named as one of Australian Art Collector magazine's 50 Most Collectible artists in 2008; her works are held by the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Contents

Life

Haasts Bluff, where Napaltjarri was born HAASTS BLUFF (IKUNTJI).jpg
Haasts Bluff, where Napaltjarri was born

Born at Haasts Bluff, Northern Territory in 1956, [1] daughter of Charlie Tarawa Tjungurrayi (aka Charlie Tararu Tjungurayi), [2] one of the founding members of Papunya Tula Artists, and Tatali Nangala, Eileen was the only one of seven siblings to follow her parents' advice and take up painting. She was reportedly the only one still alive by 2008. [3] [notes 1]

Marriage discrepancies

In 2008, researcher Vivien Johnson reported that she married Puuna Tjakamarra, and had two children, William Tjupurrula and Sharon Napurrula, as well as an adopted son, Jeffrey. [3] However, journalist Nicolas Rothwell in 2006 stated that Napaltjarri's husband was named Kenny Williams Tjampitjinpa. [6]

Art

Background

Contemporary indigenous art of the western desert began in 1971 when indigenous men at Papunya created murals and canvases using western art materials, assisted by teacher Geoffrey Bardon. [7] Their work, which used acrylic paints to create designs representing body painting and ground sculptures, rapidly spread across indigenous communities of central Australia, particularly following the commencement of a government-sanctioned art program in central Australia in 1983. [8] By the 1980s and 1990s, such work was being exhibited internationally. [9] The first artists, including all of the founders of the Papunya Tula artists' company, had been men, and there was resistance amongst the Pintupi men of central Australia to women painting. [10] However, there was also a desire amongst many of the women to participate, and in the 1990s large numbers of them began to create paintings. In the western desert communities such as Kintore, Yuendumu, Balgo, and on the outstations, people were beginning to create art works expressly for exhibition and sale. [9]

Career

She first began painting in 1996, aged 40, for Papunya Tula, of which her father had been one of the founders in the early 1970s. [3] Sources differ on when her work for Papunya Tula became regular, with Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi placing this at 1999, [11] while Vivien Johnson, in her survey Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists, suggests 2002. [3] As of 2010, Napaltjarri had held two solo exhibitions, the second at Utopia Art Sydney. [2]

Napaltjarri won the "emerging artist" category of the Redlands Westpac Art Prize in 2005. [3] In 2006, journalist and writer Nicolas Rothwell named her as the successor to Papunya Tula's most significant founding women: Makinti Napanangka, Wintjiya Napaltjarri and Tjunkiya Napaltjarri. [6] Australian Art Collector magazine, in its annual survey of Australian art, included Napaltjarri in its 50 Most Collectable Artists for 2008. [12] Works by Napaltjarri are held by the Art Gallery of New Wales, [1] and the National Gallery of Australia. [3]

Napaltjarri paints sites associated with both her mother's country around Kintore, Northern Territory, and her father's country, Tjitururrnga (or Tjiturrulpa), [2] to the west of Kintore. [3]

Collections

Notes

  1. ↑ 'Napaljarri' (in Warlpiri) or 'Napaltjarri' (in Western Desert dialects) is a skin name, one of sixteen used to denote the subsections or subgroups in the kinship system of central Australian indigenous people. These names define kinship relationships that influence preferred marriage partners and may be associated with particular totems. Although they may be used as terms of address, they are not surnames in the sense used by Europeans. [4] [5] Thus 'Eileen' is the element of the artist's name that is specifically hers.

Related Research Articles

Makinti Napanangka Indigenous Australian artist from the Western Desert region (c. 1930 – 2011)

Makinti Napanangka was a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous Australian artist from Australia's Western Desert region. She was referred to posthumously as Kumentje. The term Kumentje was used instead of her personal name as it is customary among many indigenous communities not to refer to deceased people by their original given names for some time after their deaths. She lived in the communities of Haasts Bluff, Papunya, and later at Kintore, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north-east of the Lake MacDonald region where she was born, on the border of the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

Daisy Jugadai Napaltjarri was a Pintupi-Luritja-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region, and sister of artist Molly Jugadai Napaltjarri. Daisy Jugadai lived and painted at Haasts Bluff, Northern Territory. There she played a significant role in the establishment of Ikuntji Women's Centre, where many artists of the region have worked.

Susie Bootja Bootja Napaltjarri was an Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Born south-west of Balgo, Western Australia, in the 1950s Susie Bootja Bootja married artist Mick Gill Tjakamarra, with whom she had a son, Matthew Gill Tjupurrula.

Tjunkiya Napaltjarri was a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. She is the sister of artist Wintjiya Napaltjarri.

Wintjiya Napaltjarri, and also known as Wintjia Napaltjarri No. 1, is a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. She is the sister of artist Tjunkiya Napaltjarri; both were wives of Toba Tjakamarra, with whom Wintjiya had five children.

Takariya Napaltjarri is an Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. She has painted with Papunya Tula artists' cooperative. First exhibited in 1996, her work is held in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Parara Napaltjarri was a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Her paintings are included in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Louisa Lawson Napaljarri (Pupiya) was a Warlpiri-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Louisa commenced painting at Lajamanu, Northern Territory in 1986. Her work is held by the National Gallery of Victoria.

Helen Nelson Napaljarri, also known as Helen White Napajarri or Helen Spencer Napaljarri, is a Walpiri-speaking Aboriginal artist from Australia's Western Desert region. A literacy worker in Yuendumu, Northern Territory, Napaljarri began painting with Warlukurlangu Artists in the 1980s. Her paintings are held by the Art Gallery of South Australia and South Australian Museum. She has contributed to several bilingual language books in Walpiri and English.

Linda Yunkata Syddick Napaltjarri is a Pintupi- and Pitjantjatjara- speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Her father was killed when she was young; her mother later married Shorty Lungkarta Tjungarrayi, an artist whose work was a significant influence on Linda Syddick's painting.

Kitty Pultara Napaljarri is an Anmatyerre-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Born at Napperby Station east of Yuendumu, Northern Territory, she worked on the station and first learned to paint there around 1986. Her work is held in the collections of the Art Gallery of South Australia and South Australian Museum.

Valerie Lynch Napaltjarri is an Indigenous Australian artist from Papunya in Australia's Northern Territory. She is a painter and printmaker whose work has been collected by the National Gallery of Australia.

Topsy Gibson Napaltjarri, also known as Tjayika or Tjanika, is a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region.

Nora Andy Napaltjarri is a Warlpiri- and Luritja-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. like her mother Entalura Nangala, Nora has painted for Indigenous artists' cooperative Papunya Tula. Her work has been exhibited at the Gauguin Museum in Tahiti, and is held by Artbank.

Ada Andy Napaltjarri is a Warlpiri– and Luritja–speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Ada was born near Haasts Bluff, Northern Territory, and has lived in several Northern Territory communities. She began painting in the early 1980s at Alice Springs and probably played a role in the development of interest in painting in the communities in which she has lived.

Ngoia Pollard Napaltjarri is a Walpiri-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Ngoia Pollard married Jack Tjampitjinpa, who became an artist working with the Papunya Tula company, and they had five children.

Molly Jugadai Napaltjarri (c.1954–2011) was a Pintupi- and Luritja-speaking Aboriginal artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Her paintings are held in major collections, including the National Gallery of Australia.

Mona Rockman Napaljarri is a Warlpiri-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Her paintings and pottery are held in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria.

Norah Nelson Napaljarri is a Warlpiri-speaking Aboriginal artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Norah Nelson began painting in 1986 and has exhibited her works both in Australia and other countries. Her paintings and pottery are held in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria.

Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula was a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region. Born near Haasts Bluff, Northern Territory, Turkey Tolson was a major figure in the Papunya Tula art movement, and the longest-serving chairman of the company formed to represent its artists.

References

  1. 1 2 "Eileen Napaltjarri – Untitled (Tjiturrulpa)". Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art: Paintings. Art Gallery of New South Wales. 1995. Retrieved 2 July 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 "Papunya Tula Artists – News". Papunya Tula Artists. 2010. Archived from the original on 4 February 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Johnson, Vivien (2008). Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists. Alice Springs, NT: IAD Press. p. 297.
  4. ↑ "Kinship and skin names". People and culture. Central Land Council. Archived from the original on 10 November 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
  5. ↑ De Brabander, Dallas (1994). "Sections". In David Horton (ed.). Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia . Vol. 2. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. p. 977. ISBN   978-0-85575-234-7.
  6. 1 2 Rothwell, Nicolas (28 November 2006). "Decade of sunshine and tears". The Australian. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
  7. ↑ Bardon, Geoffrey; James Bardon (2006). Papunya – A place made after the story: The beginnings of the Western Desert painting movement. University of Melbourne: Miegunyah Press.
  8. ↑ Dussart, Francoise (2006). "Canvassing identities: reflecting on the acrylic art movement in an Australian Aboriginal settlement". Aboriginal History. 30: 156–168.
  9. 1 2 Morphy, Howard (1999). Aboriginal Art. London: Phaidon. pp. 261–316.
  10. ↑ Strocchi, Marina (2006). "Minyma Tjukurrpa: Kintore / Haasts Bluff Canvas Project: Dancing women to famous painters". Artlink Magazine . 26 (4).
  11. ↑ "Artists: Eileen Napaltjarri". Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi. Archived from the original on 14 September 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  12. ↑ "50 of Australia's Most Collectable Artists". Australian Art Collector (43). January–March 2008. Archived from the original on 24 September 2009.
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