Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri
(ca. 1927-1998)
Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, belonged to the Pintupi language group, was born around 1927 in Marnpi, south-west of Mt. Rennie, and died in 1998. As a youth he lived in the area of Haasts Bluff and on the Lutheran mission at Hermannsburg (Ntaria), west of Alice Springs, where he went to school until the age of element. He was initiated at Areyonga and worked thereafter on various station properties.
Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri lived in Papunya in the early '70s and was later elected as a member of the town council. Together with Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula, Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri, Old Mick Tjakamarra, Uta Uta Tjangala, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and other artists of Papunya, he helped found the modern Indigenous art movement.
He travelled with two other artists in 1981 to Sydney, for the opening of what was probably the first exhibition in Australia's largest city of so-called Desert Painting. The exhibition was held in defiance of the wishes of the local government administration in Papunya and all sale proceeds were donated to a health service for Indigenous peoples, one which was responsive to Indigenous priorities.
When many Pintupi people went back to their home country at Walungurru (Kintore), Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri stayed on with Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula at Papunya for some time. He eventually returned to the area of Marnpi (his birthplace). In 1989 he visited Melbourne for the opening in the National Gallery of Victoria of an exhibition by Papunya Tula Artists, the first artists’ cooperative organized among the First Australians. He returned several times to Melbourne and also Sydney, when his works were exhibited. The first of his solo exhibitions was in 1991.
Selected Exhibitions
| 2012 | Geteilte Erde. Malerei australischer Aborigines und Keramik von Lotte Reimers – Shared Ground. Indigenous Australian painting and the ceramic art of Lotte Reimers, Theodor-Zink-Museum, Kaiserslautern, Deutschland |
| 2011-2013 | Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art, The Ian Potter Centre, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australien; Musée du quai Branly, Paris, Frankreich |
| 2009 | Icons of the Desert. Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca; Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles; Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York, USA |
| 2007 | Papunya Painting – Out of the Desert, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, Australien |
| 2006 | The Second Shalom Gamarada Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Shalom College, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australien |
| 2005 | Blue Chip VII. The Collectors’ Exhibition, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, Australien |
| 2004 | Spirit & Vision, Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg, Österreich |
| 2001-2004 | Mythology & Reality. Palazzo Bricherasio Turin, Italien; AAM Utrecht, Niederlande; Monash University Prato Centre, Italien; Jerusalem Centre for the Performing Arts, Israel; SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney; Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Australien |
| 2001 | Dreamtime. Zeitgenössische Aboriginal Art, Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg, Österreich |
| 2001 | Das Verborgene im Sichtbaren (The Unseen in Scene), Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Deutschland (in Kooperation mit Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer) |
| 2000-2001 | Transitions. 17 Years of the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; Tandanya – National Aboriginal Cultural Institute,Adelaide, Australien |
| 2000 | 12th Biennale of Sydney |
| 2000 | Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australien |
| 2000 | Kunst der Aborigines, Leverkusen, Deutschland (in Kooperation mit Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer) |
| 1999 | Spirit Country: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Gantner Myer Collection, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, USA |
| 1999 | Zeichen des Seins. Malerei der australischen Aborigines, Städtische Galerie ADA, Meiningen, Deutschland (in Kooperation mit Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer) |
| 1998-2000 | Tjinytjilpa. The Dotted Design, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery; Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery; Mildura Art Gallery; Old Treasury Building, Melbourne; The Exhibitions Gallery, Wangarrata; Horsham Art Gallery, Australien |
| 1998 | Australian Contemporary Art Fair 6, Melbourne, Australien |
| 1997 | Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australien |
| 1997 | First International Biennial, Trevi Art Museum, Trevi, Italien |
| 1996-1997 | Spirit and Place. Art in Australia 1861-1996, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australien |
| 1996 | Voices of the Earth. Paintings, Photography and Sculpture from Aboriginal Australia, Seoul, Südkorea; Mumbai, Calcutta, Indien |
| 1996 | National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australien |
| 1996 | The Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery, Neuseeland |
| 1994 | Spazio Krizia, Mailand, Italien |
| 1993-1994 | Aratjara. Kunst der ersten Australier, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Deutschland; Hayward Gallery, London, Großbritannien; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Dänemark |
| 1993 | Tjukurrpa. Desert Dreamings - A Survey of Central Desert Art 1971-1993, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australien |
| 1993 | Awake to the Dreamtime, Kelton Foundation Collection, The San Diego Museum of Man, San Diego, USA |
| 1993 | Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Manly, Australien |
| 1993 | Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australien |
| 1992 | Aboriginal Paintings from the Desert, State Ukranian Museum of Art, Kiev, Ukraine, State Byelorussian Museum of Modern Art, Minsk, Weissrussland |
| 1992 | Crossroads - Toward a New Reality, Aboriginal Art from Australia, National Museums of Modern Art, Kyoto und Tokyo, Japan |
| 1992 | Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Parkside, Australien |
| 1991 | 8th National Aboriginal Art Award, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australien |
| 1991 | Canvas and Bark, South Australian Museum, Adelaide, Australien |
| 1991 | Aboriginal Paintings from the Desert, Union of Soviet Artists Gallery, Moskau, und Museum of Ethnographic Art, St. Petersburg, Russland |
| 1991 | Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, High Court, Canberra, Australien |
| 1990 | Paintings from the Desert. Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings, Plimsoll Gallery, Centre for the Arts, Hobart, Australien |
| 1990 | East to West: Land in Papunya Tula Paintings, Tandanya - National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide, Australien |
| 1990 | National Gallery of Modern Art, Rom, Italien |
| 1990 | L’Eté: Australie à Montpellier. 100 Chefs-d’oeuvre de la peinture Australienne, Musée Fabre Galerie Saint Ravy, Montpellier, Frankreich |
| 1989 | Mythscapes. Aboriginal Art of the Desert, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australien |
| 1989 | Foundation. The First Decade of Collecting, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australien |
| 1989 | Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico |
| 1989 | A Myriad of Dreaming. Twentieth Century Aboriginal Art, Westpac Gallery, Melbourne; Design Warehouse, Sydney, Australien |
| 1988 | Dreamings. The Art of Aboriginal Australia, The Asia Society Galleries, New York, USA |
| 1988 | Queensland Museum, Brisbane, Australien |
| 1988 | The Inspired Dream. Life as Art in Aboriginal Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australien |
| 1987 | Circle Path Meander, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australien |
| 1986 | National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australien |
| 1985 | Dot and circle. A retrospective survey of the Aboriginal acrylic paintings of central Australia, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australien |
| 1984 | Papunya and Beyond, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australien |
| 1981-1982 | Aboriginal Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Australian Museum, Queensland Art Gallery |
Collections
Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Artbank, Sydney
Australian Museum, Sydney
Chatwell-Sammlung
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
Gantner Myer-Sammlung, Melbourne
Kelton Foundation, Los Angeles
Musée National des Arts d'Afrique et d'Oceanie, Paris
Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Robert Holmes à Court-Sammlung, Perth
Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg
South Australian Museum, Adelaide
Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Darwin
University of Western Australia, Perth
Wollongong City Art Gallery, Wollongong
Awards
1991 National Aboriginal Art Award
1994 Red Ochre Award
1994 The Alice Prize (mit Robert Kleinboonschate)
Literature
Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer, Kulturabteilung Bayer, Leverkusen, and Bayer Australia, Sydney (eds.): Das Verborgene im Sichtbaren. The Unseen in Scene, Speyer 2000, exh. cat., ISBN 3980707202
Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia (ed.): Tjinytjilpa. The Dotted Design, Melbourne 1998, exh. cat.
Aboriginal Artists Agency and Papunya Tula Artists (eds.): Papunya - Ureinwohnermalerei aus der Wüste Zentralaustraliens, 1983, exh. cat., ISBN 0908235046
Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings (ed.): Nangara. The Australian Aboriginal Art Exhibition from the Ebes Collection, Melbourne 1996, exh. cat.
Amadio, N. und Kimber, R.: Wildbird Dreaming, Aboriginal Art from the Central Deserts of Australia, Greenhouse Publ., Melbourne 1988
Art Gallery of New South Wales (ed.): Tradition today. Indigenous Art in Australia, Sydney 2004, ISBN 0734763441
Art Gallery of Western Australia (ed.): Indigenous Art - Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth 2001, ISBN 0730738167
Artforce. Australian Council (ed.), 86, Dezember 1994
Australian Heritage Commission (ed.): The Second National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Heritage Art Award, Canberra 1994, exh. cat.
Bähr, Elisabeth and Seele, Ralf-Michael (eds.): Zeichen des Seins. Malerei der australischen Aborigines, Meiningen 1999, exh. brochure, ISBN 393067517X
Bardon, Geoffrey: Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert, Rigby, Adelaide 1979, ISBN 0727008110
Bardon, Geoffrey: Papunya Tula. Art of the Western Desert, McPhee Gribble, Melbourne 1991, ISBN 0869141600
Beier, Uli and Johnson, Colin (eds.): Long Water, Aboriginal Art and Literature Annual, 1988, ISSN 10311114
Benjamin, Roger and Weislogel, Andrew C. (eds.): Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, New York 2009, ISBN 9781934260074
Boulter, Michael und Hodges, Christopher: Australia's First International Art Movement, Utopia Art Sydney 1990, ISBN 0731699068
Caruana, Wally: Die Kunst der Aborigines, Lichtenberg, München 1997, ISBN 3785284039
Cooper, C., Morphy, H., Mulvaney, D.J. and Petersen, N.: Aboriginal Australia, Australian Gallery Directors Council, Sydney 1981, exh. cat.
Crocker, A. (ed.): Mr Sandman Bring Me a Dream, Papunya Tula Artists Pty. Ltd., Alice Springs, and Aboriginal Artists Agency Ltd., Sydney 1981
Crossman, S. and Bardou, J.P. (eds.): L'Eté: Australie à Montpellier. 100 Chefs-d'oeuvre de la peinture Australienne, Musée Fabre Galerie Saint Ravy, Montpellier 1990, exh. cat.
Crumlin, R. and Knight, A. (eds.): Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, Collins Dove, Melbourne 1991
Flinders University City Gallery (ed.): Big Country. Works from the Flinders University Art Museum collection, Adelaide 2003, exh. cat., ISBN 072581103X
Genocchio, Benjamin: Dollar Dreaming: Inside the Aboriginal Art World, Hardie Grant Books, Prahran 2008, ISBN 9781740666091
Godelier, Maurice (ed.): Wati. Les hommes de loi. The Law Men. Collection d'Arnaud Serval, Woo Mang, Paris 2002, exh. cat., ISBN 2951868103
Heide Museum of Modern Art (ed.): Mythology & Reality. Contemporary Aboriginal Desert Art from the Gabrielle Pizzi Collection, Bulleen 2004, exh. cat., ISBN 094710481X
Heytesbury Holdings (ed.): Contemporary Aboriginal Art from the Robert Holmes à Court Collection. Text: Anne Marie Brody, Perth 1990, exh. cat., ISBN 0731685695
Isaacs, Jennifer: Australian Aboriginal Paintings, Lansdowne, Sydney 1989, ISBN 186302011X
Isaacs, Jennifer: Spirit Country. Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art, Hardie Grant Books, Melbourne, und Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1999, exh. cat. ISBN 1864980494
Johnson, Vivien (ed.): Papunya painting - Out of the desert, National Museum of Australia Press, Canberra 2006, exh. cat., ISBN 9781876944582
Johnson, Vivien: Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert. A Biographical Dictionary, Craftsman House, East Roseville 1994, ISBN 9768097817
Johnson, Vivien: Dreamings of the Desert. Aboriginal dot paintings of the Western Desert, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide 1996, exh. cat., ISBN 073083073X
Johnson, Vivien: Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists, IAD Press, Alice Springs 2008, ISBN 9781864650907
Johnson, Vivien: Once upon a time in Papunya, University of New South Wales Press, 2010, ISBN 9781742230078
Kleinert, S. and Neale, M. (eds.): The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture, Oxford Univ. Press, Melbourne 2000, ISBN 0195506599
Le Voci della Terra, Fondazione Gottardo, Lugano 1994, exh. cat.
Littman, R. (ed.): Papunya Tula. Arte Aborigen Australiano, Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City 1989, exh. cat.
Lüthi, B. (ed.): Aratjara. Kunst der ersten Australier, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, DuMont, Köln 1993, exh. cat., ISBN 3926154160
Maughan, J. and Zimmer, J. (eds.): Dot & Circle, A Retrospective Survey of the Aboriginal Acrylic Paintings of Central Australia, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne 1986, exh. cat.
McCulloch, A. and McCulloch, S.: The Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Allen & Unwin Pty. Ltd., St. Leonards, 1994
McCulloch, Susan: Contemporary Aboriginal Art. A guide to the rebirth of an ancient culture, Allen and Unwin, St Leonards NSW 1999, ISBN 1864486317
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (ed.): Transitions. 17 Years of the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin 2000, exh. cat., ISBN 0724546146
Museum of Contemporary Art (ed.): Spirit and Place. Art in Australia 1861-1996, Sydney 1996, exh. cat., ISBN 1875632506
Museé Olympique (ed.): Art Aborigène, Jouvence millénaire, Aboriginal Art, An Immemorial Fountain of Youth, Lausanne 2001, exh. cat., ISBN 9291600423
Myers, Fred R.: Painting Culture. The Making of an Aboriginal High Art, Duke University Press, Durham, London 2002, ISBN 0822329492
O'Ferrall, M.A. (ed.): Tjukurrpa - Desert Dreamings, Aboriginal Art from Central Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth 1993, exh. cat.
Oliva, Achille Bonito (ed.): Desert Art, 2nd ed., Milano 2002, exh. cat.
Perkins, Hetti: Art + soul: a journey into the world of Aboriginal art, Miegunyah Press, Carlton 2010, ISBN 9780522857634
Pizzi, Gabrielle (ed.): Voices of the Earth. Paintings, Photography and Sculpture from Aboriginal Australia, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne 1996, exh. cat., ISBN 0646288954
Pizzi, Gabrielle: Contemporary Paintings from Papunya Tula, Melbourne 1989
Ryan, Judith (ed.): Mythscapes. Aboriginal Art of the Desert from the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 1989, exh. cat.
Sammlung Essl (ed.): Dreamtime. Zeitgenössische Aboriginal Art, Klosterneuburg 2001, exh. cat., ISBN 3902001038
Schulz, D.: Lines from the Dreamtime, The Australian Way, Qantas in-flight magazine, May 1994
Stanton, J.E.: Innovative Aboriginal Art of Western Australia, Occasional Paper 1, The University of Western Australia Anthropology Research Museum, Nedlands 1988
Stourton, P. Corbally: Songlines and Dreamings, Lund Humphries Publ., London 1996, ISBN 0853316910
Sutton, Peter (ed.): Dreamings. The Art of Aboriginal Australia, Penguin Books Australia, Ringwood 1988, exh. cat.
Uchiyama, T. and Kohmoto, S. (eds.): Crossroads - Towards a New Reality, Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto 1992, exh. cat.
Wereldmuseum Rotterdam (ed.): Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Rotterdam 2002, exh. cat.
West, Margie K.C. (ed.): The Inspired Dream. Life as Art in Aboriginal Australia, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, und Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 1988, exh. cat., ISBN 0730700216
