ABOUT ABORIGINAL ART

Background

Australian aboriginals have been using ochres as body paint and to paint on rock and bark for tens of thousands of years. It was only in the 1930s at the Hermannsburg mission near Alice Springs that this traditional painting moved towards the art that we recognise in galleries today. Interestingly, the first paintings were done in watercolour and featured clear representations of desert landscapes, not the dot art form that most people associate with aboriginal art today. In 1937, the most noted of the earlier aboriginal watercolour painters, Albert Namatjira, had his first exhibition in Adelaide. Until the early 1970s, watercolour was the primary format used, although some ochre and bark-style paintings had started to become available for non-aboriginal audiences in the 1940s and an art and craft centre was established at Ernabella mission in 1948.

Today's Art - The Beginnings

In 1971 the aboriginal art world changed dramatically with the arrival of a young school teacher called Geoffrey Bardon at the Papunya settlement, 250 kilometres west of Alice Springs. The movement that has revolutionised contemporary Australian art began when an art teacher encouraged young, aboriginal children to draw and paint the stories from their culture. This soon drew the attention of the tribal elders who were intrigued by the interest the white man showed in their culture. Initially, this led to the creation of a mural on a school building in Papunya. Then, as interest grew in the Papunya community, Bardon began supplying the men with acrylics and board to paint on. Although he was only at Papunya for 18 months, Bardon made a significant contribution in fostering the local aboriginals as they developed their own painting styles and representations of their land, culture and ceremonies - their "dreaming". By the time he left in August 1972, the elders had created over 1000 paintings, Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd had been incorporated by the artists and the movement was well and truly established.

Typical of many fledgling movements, the aboriginal art scene struggled during its early years. As one would imagine, there were financial challenges and it was a battle to achieve recognition from an essentially conservative, white audience. This is evidenced by numerous stories of art, later regarded as masterpieces, being sold for a pittance and major, seminal works of art hanging unrecognised or being consigned to warehouses or garden sheds for many years. Less publicised is the fact that the early artists encountered serious resistance and sometimes rejection from other aboriginal communities who regarded paintings of such sensitive matters as being entirely inappropriate. Some of that resistance simply decreased naturally as time went by. However, the resistance also contributed to the current practice of representing sensitive matters in a stylised manner, ensuring that uninitiated persons cannot understand the full story behind a picture. Furthermore, the uninitiated will never be told the full story behind many pieces.

Crossing the Barriers - Indigenous & White Man 

As the 1970s passed, the art started to reach the consciousness of a wider and wider audience. The first major breakthrough came with the inclusion of works by Clifford Possum and Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri in the Australian Perspecta 1981 exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Aboriginal art had taken its biggest step in reaching mainstream consciousness.

The recognition gained from the Perspecta exhibition and the associated financial success became a key driver in changing attitudes towards art within the aboriginal community itself. It gained currency as a key opportunity to bring much needed cash into the communities, help escape the poverty trap and provide a sense of purpose across all generations.

The movement started to spread through the settlements which had originally been established as part of the government's efforts to assimilate the aboriginals into white society. The funds generated also helped fuel the movement of tribes back to their traditional homelands where they established their own communities in places like Kintore.

By the mid 1980s, painters from Yuendumu had been involved in a successful private exhibition in Sydney and established their own artist's organisation. The momentum was building, success breeding success. At the same time, ochre based art in the Kimberleys and bark art in Arnhem Land started to receive popular acclaim. The movement was broadening its geographical base.

Recognition by Government, the Establishment and the Market

In 1988, the Australian Federal Government gave the aboriginal art movement a further boost by accepting Michael Nelson Jagamarra's design for the mosaic in the forecourt of the new parliament house. This momentum continued into and through the 1990s with the art form steadily insinuating its way into non-indigenous Australia's consciousness.

The Sydney Olympics proved another key stepping stone for the movement when aboriginal art received headline acclaim. However, as is often typical, a country does not realise what it has until others start to take significant interest. In the case of aboriginal art, the 2006 opening of the Musee Quai Branly, a dedicated indigenous art museum in Paris, brought international attention to Australian aboriginal art.

May 2007 saw the first piece of indigenous art sold for more than $1 million, the Emily Kame Kngwarreye piece, Earth's Creation. It was a record price not only for Australian aboriginal art, but also for any Australian woman artist. This record was swiftly followed by the sale in July 2007 of one of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri's acclaimed "map series" which reached $2.4 million. In two short months, Australian aboriginal art had emphatically announced itself as a serious art form for the collector and the investor alike.