Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula
(c. 1943-2001)
Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula was born around 1943, some Kilometers east of Haasts Bluff. His family had been living nomadically in their country between Walungurru (Kintore) and the area of the mission station Hermannsburg (today: Ntaria).
As a consequence of the assimilation politics of the Australian Government of the time, many Indigenous Australians were forced into reservations. When one of the last such settlements was created at Papunya, Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula and his family were brought in from the desert in 1959, shortly after his first Initiation. Papunya was officially declared a reservation in 1961. The man who would later be recognized as a talented artist worked there on the construction teams and in the community kitchen. In 1983 he returned to the area of Walungurru (Kintore), living to the southeast at the outstation Yuwalki, in the land of his fathers. Later he moved again, to Walungurru.
Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula was one the youngest within the group of artists who founded the new Australian art movement in Papunya in 1971. From 1985 to 1995, he was chairman of the Papunya Tula Artists, the first and still enduring artists’ cooperative, which was founded in 1972. He was awarded in 1979 the Artist in Residence scholarship of the Flinders University Art Museum in Adelaide. The first of a number of solo exhibitions was held in 1993 in the Haywood Gallery in London.
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 |
| 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 |
| 2005 | Big Dreams, Robert Steele Gallery, New York, USA |
| 2003 | Big Country. Works from the Flinders University Art Museum Collection, Flinders University City Gallery, Adelaide, Australien |
| 2001-2004 | Mythology & Reality. Palazzo Bricherasio Turin, Italien; AAM Utrecht, Niederlande; Monash University Prato Centre, Italien; Jerusalem Centre for the Performing Arts, Jerusalem, Israel; SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney; Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Australien |
| 2001 | Dreamtime. Zeitgenössische Aboriginal Art, Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg, Österreich |
| 2001 | Galerie Knud Grothe, Charlottenlund, Dänemark |
| 2000 | Utopia Art Sydney, Australien |
| 2000 | Kunst der Aborigines, Leverkusen, Deutschland (in Kooperation mit Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer) |
| 2000 | Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australien |
| 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 | 15th National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australien |
| 1997 | Peintres Aborigènes d'Australie, Parc de la Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris, Frankreich |
| 1996 | Voices of the Earth. Paintings, Photography and Sculpture from Aboriginal Australia, Seoul, Südkorea; Mumbai, Calcutta, Indien |
| 1995-1996 | 12th National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; Westpac Gallery, Melbourne; Brisbane City Hall Art Gallery; SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney; Tandanya - National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide, Australien |
| 1995 | Mitchell Galleries, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Australien |
| 1995 | Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, USA |
| 1994-1995 | Antipodean Currents. Ten Contemporary Artists from Australia, Guggenheim Museum, New York, und The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C., USA |
| 1994 | The Evolving Dreamtime, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, USA |
| 1994 | Songs of the Earth, Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, USA |
| 1993-1994 | Aratjara. Kunst der ersten Australier, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Deutschland; Hayward Gallery, London, Großbritannien; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Dänemark |
| 1993 | 10th National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australien |
| 1993 | Tjukurrpa. Desert Dreamings - A Survey of Central Desert Art 1971-1993, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australien |
| 1993 | Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Manly, Australien |
| 1992 | Heritage of Namatjira, Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide, Australien |
| 1991 | National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australien |
| 1991 | Flash Pictures, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australien |
| 1991 | The Painted Dream. Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, Neuseeland |
| 1991 | Canvas and Bark, South Australian Museum, Adelaide, Australien |
| 1990 | East to West: Land in Papunya Tula Paintings, Tandanya - National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide, Australien |
| 1989 | Mythscapes. Aboriginal Art of the Desert, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australien |
| 1989 | Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Australien |
| 1988 | Dreamings. The Art of Aboriginal Australia, The Asia Society Galleries, New York, USA |
| 1988 | Wagga Wagga City Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga, Australien |
| 1986 | Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat, Australien |
| 1985 | Dot and circle. A retrospective survey of the Aboriginal acrylic paintings of central Australia, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australien |
| 1985 | The Face of the Centre. Papunya Tula Paintings 1971-1984, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australien |
| 1984 | Chapman Gallery, Canberra, Australien |
| 1982 | Aboriginal Artists Agency Ltd., Sydney, Australien |
| 1981 | Anvil Art Gallery, Albury, Australien |
| 1974 | Anvil Art Gallery, Albury, Australien |
Collections
Alice Springs Law Courts, Alice Springs
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Artbank, Sydney
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
Kelton Foundation, Los Angeles
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
National Museum of Australia, Canberra
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Robert Holmes à Court-Sammlung, Perth
Sails in the Desert Hotel, Yulara Complex, Uluru
Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg
South Australian Museum, Adelaide
Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Darwin
University of Western Australia, Anthropology Museum, Perth
Victorian Centre for the Performing Arts, Melbourne
Victorian Museum, Melbourne
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 Gallery of Dreamings (ed.): Nangara. The Australian Aboriginal Art Exhibition from the Ebes Collection, Melbourne 1996, exh. cat.
Aboriginal Artists Agency and Papunya Tula Artists (eds.): Papunya - Ureinwohnermalerei aus der Wüste Zentralaustraliens, 1983, exh. cat., ISBN 0908235046
Amadio, N. and 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
Bähr, Elisabeth and Seele, Ralf-Michael (eds.): Zeichen des Seins. Malerei der australischen Aborigines, Meiningen 1999, exh. brochure, ISBN 393067517X
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 and Hodges, Christopher: Australia's First International Art Movement, Utopia Art Sydney 1990, ISBN 0731699068
Brody, Anne (ed.): The Face of the Centre, Papunya Tula Paintings 1971-1984, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 1985, exh. cat.
Caruana, Wally: Die Kunst der Aborigines, Lichtenberg, München 1997, ISBN 3785284039
Crocker, A. (ed.): Mr Sandman Bring Me a Dream, Papunya Tula Artists Pty. Ltd., Alice Springs, und Aboriginal Artists Agency Ltd., Sydney 1981
Desmond, Michael and Caruana, Wally (eds.): Flash Pictures, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 1991, exh. cat.
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
Hardy, Jane, Megaw, J.V.S. and Megaw, M. Ruth (eds.): The Heritage of Namatjira. The Watercolourist of Central Australia, William Heinemann Australia, Port Melbourne 1992, ISBN 0855614439
Hatfield, Irena: Women of the Sacred Earth. Profile Aboriginal Women Artists from Isolated Areas in the 1990s, Eigenverlag 1992
Heide Museum of Modern Art (ed.): Mythology & Reality. Contemporary Aboriginal Desert Art from the Gabrielle Pizzi Collection, Bulleen 2004, exh. cat., ISBN 094710481X
Johnson, Vivien (ed.): Papunya painting - Out of the desert, National Museum of Australia Press, Canberra 2006, exh. cat., ISBN 9781876944582
Johnson, Vivien (ed.): The Painted Dream. Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland 1991, exh. cat.
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
Kean, J. (ed.): East to West. Land in Papunya Tula Paintings, Tandanya - National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide 1990, exh. cat.
Kleinert, S. and Neale, M. (eds.): The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture, Oxford Univ. Press, Melbourne 2000, ISBN 0195506599
Lüthi, B. (ed.): Aratjara. Kunst der ersten Australier, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, DuMont, Köln 1993, exh. cat., ISBN 3926154160
Meeuwsen, Franca: Aboriginal Kunst, de verhalen vertellen, Zwolle 2000, ISBN 9040095078
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
Perkins, Hetti: Beyond the Year of Indigenous Peoples, in: Art and Australia 31 (1), 1993, pp. 98-101
Pizzi, Gabrielle (ed.): Voices of the Earth. Paintings, Photography and Sculpture from Aboriginal Australia, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne 1996, exh. cat., ISBN 0646288954
Sammlung Essl (ed.): Dreamtime. Zeitgenössische Aboriginal Art, Klosterneuburg 2001, exh. cat., ISBN 3902001038
Sayers, Andrew: Australian Art, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0192842145
Schulz, D.: Lines from the Dreamtime, The Australian Way, Qantas in-flight magazine, May 1994
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (ed.): Antipodean Currents. Ten Contemporary Artists from Australia, New York 1995, ISBN 0892071451
Stourton, P. Corbally: Songlines and Dreamings, Lund Humphries Publ., London 1996, ISBN 0853316910
Ströter-Bender, J.: Zeitgenössische Kunst der "Dritten Welt", DuMont, Köln 1991
Susquehanna Art Museum (ed.): Songs of the Earth, Aboriginal Art of Australia, Harrisburg 1995, exh. cat.
Sutton, Peter (ed.): Dreamings. The Art of Aboriginal Australia, Penguin Books Australia, Ringwood 1988, exh. cat.
Tandanya - National Aboriginal Cultural Institute (ed.): Market of Dreams, Adelaide, undated.
Utopia Art Sydney (ed.): The Pintupi. Twenty Years On, undated, exh. cat.
White, Judith: Wide Awake Dreaming, Interview with Hetti Perkins, in: Look (Art Gallery Society of New South Wales), April 2000, pp. 14-19, ISSN 1442-4185
