The artist's works have gone up for sale at public auction 402 times, mostly in the Painting category. His two daughters, Gabriella Possum Nungurayyi and Michelle Possum Nungurayyi, are renowned artists in their own right. They been using ochres all the colours from the rock. Hailed as the master and pioneer of Central Western Dot painting, Clifford merged the traditional with the contemporary creating artworks which moved beyond their canvas speaking to all who gaze upon them. [3], Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri died in Alice Springs on the day he was scheduled to be invested with the Order of Australia for his contributions to art and to the Indigenous community. When Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri joined this group of 'dot and circle' painters early in 1972 he immediately distinguished himself as one of its most talented members and went on to create some of the largest and most complex paintings ever produced". Clifford Possum emerged as one of the leaders in this school of painting, which has come to be called the Western Desert Art Movement. All the young fella they bring 'em back kangaroo. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (cca. Possum received no formal education but knew six Aboriginal languages and a little English. Synthetic polymer paint on canvas. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri is arguably the most famous male Central Western Desert artist, who from 1971 until his death in 2002 dominated the Aboriginal art scene. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, one of the acknowledged pioneers of the contemporary Australian Aboriginal art movement which emerged at Papunya settlement in central Australia in the early 1970s . Geoffrey Bardon came to Papunya in the early 1970s and encouraged the Aboriginal people to put their dreaming stories on canvas, stories which had previously been depicted ephemerally on the ground. He is one of Australia's most distinguished and best-selling painters of the late twentieth century. He worked extensively as a stockman on the cattle stations in and around his traditional country. Although married and father to Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi and Michelle Possum Nungurrayi, Clifford Possum dedicated his time to creating extraordinary three-dimensional artworks widening the circles of knowledge relating to Anmatyerre history, Aboriginal and national history. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri - Artist Biography Shopping Cart | Wish List | About Us Artworks Exhibitions Buying Guide Our Services Art & Culture Contact Us Search Aboriginal Artworks Text Search Search Website Colour Range Size and Shape Range Size: Shape: Price Range On Sale Low: High: Region & Theme The conceptual purity of these works is a precursor to Clifford Possum's unparalleled skill in conjuring objects in space, describing the physical relationships below, above and beyond objects. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons. The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency, oil and polymer vinyl paint on canvas (, The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Growing up, Clifford enjoyed a tradition bush lifestyle and was given the name Possum by his parental grandfather. The omission led scholar Vivien Johnson to conclude that Warlugulong (1977) portrays a narrower geographic area than the preceding work. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. His brother was Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, whose artwork appeared on another stamp. Video, Know My Name Billy Stockman, another founding member of the Papunya Tula art movement, survived the massacre and was raised by Clifford Possums mother. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri - 14 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy Artists Artworks Auctions Viewing Rooms Galleries Fairs Shows Museums Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Australian, 1932-2002 Follow 99 Followers Active Secondary Market Overview Works for Sale (14) Auction Results Featured Works Artist Name Artwork Title Partner Price Artist Name In June of 2002, Tjapaltjarri traveled to Alice Springs to receive the rank of Officer in the meritorious Order of Australia for Distinguished service of a high degree to Australia or to humanity at large. But on the 21st, the day of the award ceremony, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri passed away. Anmatyerr, Central Desert region. The other artists working with him took his lead and removed any elements of European Art from their work. Despite this success and his prolific output, Possums fame did not bring great personal wealth or security. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, AO (c.1937 - 2002) Australia's Most Celebrated Aboriginal Artist. Many of his canvasses have strong figurative elements which stand out from the highly descriptive background dotting. In the late 1970's he expanded the scope of Papunya Tula painting by placing the trails of several ancestors on the same canvas in the fashion of a road map. Collections include the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra and the New South Wales Art Gallery in Sydney. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present. Standing out among an exceptional cohort, these four selected artists deployed their inherited iconography while exploring the new poetic possibilities offered by paint on canvas. Possum's father was Tjatjiti Tjungurrayai and his mother was Long Rose Nangala. His determination to express and pass on his ancestral stories to the next generation became the means for forging his distinct artistic vision. The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. In 1971, Geoffrey Bardon, a young teacher, arrived at Papunya. Video excerpt from the ABC documentary 'The Exhibitionists' on First Nations Australian female artist Karla Dickens, Wiradjuri people. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the, Let me know when this portraits on display. In 1972 Clifford Possum was introduced to the emergent painting movement at Papunya by his cousin Kaapa Tjapitjinpa and brother Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri. Its striking central fireburst depicts the Fire Dreaming site where Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarris mother, Long Rose Nangala, was born. One [] For service as a contributor to and pioneer of the development of the Western Desert art movement, and to the indigenous community through interpretation of ancient traditions and cultural values. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, post 1976, Alice Springs/Northern Territory/Australia, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and his brother Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri were selected by Papunya Tula Artists. He was chosen by Papunya Tula Artists to paint, with his brother Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, the large canvas that became Warlugulong, 1976, for a BBC documentary, Desert Dreamers. Possum and Bush Tucker Dreaming, 1996 . There was legal controversy surrounding his burial, as his surviving family and community maintained he wished to be buried in a location different from that specified in his will. [8] The two images are amongst five that the artist created between 1976 and 1979 that linked the iconography of sacred stories to geographic representation of his country the land to which he belonged and about which he had traditional knowledge. The move coincided with a growing interest in Western Desert art by private and public galleries, with financial support and commissions from the federal government, which was anxious to include paintings by Aborigines in the 1988 bicentennial celebrations and the new parliament house. It makes accessible the development of a master painter of the Anmatyerre tribe, one . In 2002 Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for service as a contributor to and pioneer of the development of the Western Desert art movement, and to the Indigenous community through interpretation of ancient traditions and cultural values., Vivien Johnson in 'Tradition today: Indigenous art in Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2014, Open daily Flinders University Art Museum Collection. Encouraged by his brother Tim, Clifford Possum, who had already begun teaching woodcarving at the settlement, joined Bardons painting group, which later became the Papunya Tula Artists Company. We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of NSW stands. He began carving in his late teens and had a reputation as a craftsman before the Papunya painting movement began. Reed Enger, "Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Reclaiming the land," in Obelisk Art History, Published January 16, 2020; last modified November 06, 2022, http://www.arthistoryproject.com/artists/clifford-possum-tjapaltjarri/. A co-founder of the audacious Papunya Tula style and the first Aboriginal painter to be critically acclaimed by art patrons in Europe and North America, Clifford Possums life bore all the scars of poverty and racist oppression confronting Aborigines in central Australia in the 20th century. Pastor F.W. Njega i njegove sunarodnjake je 1960. australijska vlada preselila iz Zapadne pustinje u Alice Springs kako bi se lake asimilirali u zapadnu kulturu. The painting illustrates the story of an ancestral being called Lungkata, together with eight other dreamings associated with localities about which Clifford Possum had traditional knowledge. His work has travelled extensively around the world, including 'Dreamings - The Art of Aboriginal Australia' in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and St Louis. [4] The youngest was Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, encouraged by his older brother Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri. In 1928 police shot and killed nearly 100 Aborigines at the infamous Coniston massacre. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, 1977. Tjapaltjarri had been a part of the Papunya art community for four years and was one of their most successful and respected artists, but it was his previous career as a stockman working on central Australias pastoral stations, or ranches, that made him uniquely qualified for the project. A founding member of Papunya Tula Artists cooperative, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was one of the most important artists of the movement and among its most innovative practitioners. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri is survived by his two daughters, Gabrielle and Michelle, and son Lionel. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri In Ocula Magazine Ocula News Swiss Collector Buys Kelton Collection of Australian Indigenous Art Melbourne, 3 December 2020 In a deal worth millions, Bruno Raschle acquired more than 250 works in the California-based collection. According to the government, Aborigines were not ready to live as white Australians and had to be re-educated. Find an AIE artist This broad stretch of territory defined the diversity of subject matter in Clifford's paintings. The art of Clifford Possum is notable for its brilliant manipulation of three-dimensional space. Like many other Anmatyerr people, his family moved to the east region of their country following the Coniston Massacre of the mid-1920s. Sale Date: October 23, 2021. [8] The work and the price it achieved at auction in 2007 are cited as evidence of both the importance of Clifford Possum as an artist, and of the maturation and growth of the Australian Indigenous art market. [notes 1] Owned for many years by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the work was sold by art dealer Hank Ebes on 24 July 2007, setting a record price for a contemporary Indigenous Australian art work bought at auction when it was purchased by the National Gallery of Australia for A$2.4million. Indian Artist Australian Art Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (circa 1930-2002) Untitled (Possum Ceremony) Estimate: AU$ 120,000 - 180,000 78,000 - 120,000 US$ 130,000 - 190,000 Aboriginal Dot Painting Aboriginal Artists Indigenous Australian Art Indigenous Art Gallery Website Outsider Art Native Art He was of the Peltharr skin. Warlugulong was Tjapaltjarris first monumental canvas, and became the template for a series of large-scale paintings made through the late 1970s. Other Aboriginal artists have incorporated western mediums into their work, such as Emily Kngwarreye, Rover Thomas, and Freddy Timms. 1-20 out of 145 LOAD MORE. This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. All the young fellas they go hunting and the old people there, they do sand painting. Animal representations include tracks of a cluster of emus from a place called Napperby, on the artist's country, as well as those left by the rock wallaby, or Mala, men journeying north from Port Augusta in South Australia, as well as, on the left hand edge of the picture, those of two groups of dingoes going to a place called Warrabri. Later that year he travelled to the US to attend the Dreamings exhibition at New Yorks Asia Society Galleries. Often these techniques would be carefully interwoven into an integrated composition, overlaid with more dots to producing an illusion of changing spatial depth. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Anmatyerr people (1932-2002), Warlugulong 1977. Sep 12, 2021 - Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was the first recognized star of the Western Desert art movement. In the early 1950s, Possum met Albert Namatjira at Glen Helen Gorge, a newly developing tourist spot established by the nearby cattle station owner. While Possum declined the offer, he began to recognise the possibility of a vocation as a professional artist. Human footprints include a set left by dancing women from a place called Aileron; another shows a family group travelling to a place called Ngama, and a third trail is that of a Tjungurrayi man, which lead to his skeleton, representing his death after committing the crime of trying to steal sacred items. His work is featured in many of the main galleries and collections around Australia and internationally. After the death of his father, his mother married Gwoya Jungarai who was the first named Aboriginal person to appear on an Australian stamp and was known as 'One Pound Jimmy'. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri AO Born: c.1932; Napperby, Australia Died: June 21, 2002; Alice Springs / Stuart, Australia Nationality: Australian Art Movement: Native Art Painting School: Papunya Tula Field: painting Family and Relatives: Michelle Possum Nungurrayi, Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi His obituaries, which appeared in newspapers around the world, generally referred to him as Clifford Possum and gave his age as about 70. Albrecht from Hermannsburg Lutheran mission noticed that the young Clifford was suffering from severe malnutrition during one of these visits and arranged for him to be nursed back to health at the mission and then returned to his mother. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (1932-2002) Collections: Artbank Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wale Read More. His final days were spent at the Hetty Perkins Nursing Home in Alice Springs, where he passed away surrounded by close family and friends. Pre-auction, the work was expected to make art history as the most expensive Aboriginal canvas at auction. One of the extraordinary qualities of Clifford's work and other Western Desert artists is that they are a visual writing and speak to the Aboriginal as books do to Europeans.When asked why he became an Artist, he answered,"That Dreaming been all the time. Tjapaltjarri was 44, and one of the founders of a flourishing art community in the small aboriginal village of Papunya. His obituaries, which appeared in newspapers around the world, generally referred to him as Clifford Possum and gave his age as about 70. Tjapaltjarri, Clifford Possum (c. 1932-2002) Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia/ Bridgeman Berlin. Throughout the work, Upambura the Possum Man's footsteps follow the wandering lines that give the painting its overall structure. (270 x 128 cm.) Lot includes the original bill of sale from Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime Gallery, 1990 and two photographs of the artist holding the painting.106.29 x 50.39 in. The work, in fact, sold for $2.4 million; the following day, it was revealed that the National Gallery of Australia had been the buyer. Realities Gallery in Melbourne then included the work in a major exhibition of Papunya Tula artworks. In the early 1950s the artist went to live at a recently opened lodge that catered to tourists drawn to the area by the landscapes of the Hermannsburg Mission watercolourists. Purchased. [12] As of 2016, the work is on display in the National Gallery. Colonial Australian Art. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri started his working life at diverse stations across Central Australia, where he acquired his impressive linguistic repertoire of six Western Desert languages, including his native Anmatyerr, and a little bit English. By the time he started visiting Papunya in the mid-1960s he had a well-established reputation as a woodcarver, based on his talent for capturing lifelike effects of motion. He has had a book published dedicated to him and his paintings, 'The Art of Clifford Possum Japaltjarri', by Vivien Johnson. Similar to many Aboriginal artists of this time, he began his working career as a stockman on various cattle stations established on his ancestral country and later was employed in the construction of the Papunya settlement. 202 cm 337.5 cm. Auction Closed In the 1940's, Clifford and his family re-located to Jay Creek, where he became a stockman, working at several stations throughout the area. Genres. It lives at the National Gallery of Australia in Australia. At first appearing abstract, small human and animal footprints reveal them as maps combining landmarks of Tjapaltjarris country of Tjukurrpa with metaphysical symbols, events and characters from the Dreaming. information@nga.gov.au Clifford POSSUM TJAPALTJARRI - Love Story 1997, 91 x 145cm ADG:1074 ADG: 1074 Description CLICK HERE TO VIEW ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Love Story - Story of painting This painting tells of a young Tjungurrayi man who fell in love with a Napangati woman, however she was the wrong skin group and was not allowed to marry him. The National Gallery acknowledges the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the Kamberri/Canberra region, and recognises their continuous connection to culture, community and Country. 1977. Tjapaltjarri amalgamated . During the '70s and '80s, he and his family lived at Papunya, Napperby Station, M'bunghara outstation near Glen Helen, and then Alice Springs. Carved snake (view from behind), 1973, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, pigment on wood, 71 x 40 x 15 cm. Numerous Indigenous Australians are noted for their participation in, and contributions to, the Visual arts of Australia and abroad. He began carving during the same period and had established a reputation as a craftsman before becoming one of the first men to take up painting at Papunya, a settlement established 240 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs in the 1960s. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri: Warlugulong (2007) 1,758 views Nov 25, 2013 13 Dislike Share Save AGOD - Aboriginal Gallery Of Dreamings 42 subscribers Clifford's painting featured on the news. Allan, and his mother from Warlugulong, an area southwest of Yuendumu. In 1976 a BBC documentary crew traveled deep into Australias Northern Territory to watch Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri and his brother Tim Leura paint a masterpiece. In 1976, with the assistance of Tim Leura, he painted Warlugulong 1976, which he later described as his number one painting. This was the last Aboriginal settlement built under the Menzies Liberal governments racist assimilation policy. "Clifford is one of the most renown Aboriginal Artists of his time. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The work had been tipped to fetch up to A$2.5 million, more than double the then-record for Aboriginal art at auction. This approach help give birth to the unique Papunya Tula style, which is an abstract representation of tribal myths and legends that is derived from traditional ceremonial designs. After his father's death in the 1940s his mother married Gwoya Jungarai, better known as One Pound Jimmy, whose image was used on a well known Australian postage stamp. Born:
These included a number of paintings depicting Warlugulong, the Bushfire Dreaming story relating to his mother's birthplace. WARLUGULONG 1977. It exemplifies a distinctive painting style developed by Papunya Tula artists in the 1970s, and blends representation of landscape with ceremonial iconography. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Anmatyerr people about 1932-2002 Born in a creek bed on Napperby cattle station, Clifford Possum worked from late boyhood as a stockman. An established wood-carver and a skilled painter, in the early 1970s Clifford along with his brother Time Leura Tjapaltjarri joined the painting men which soon transformed into the Papunya Tula Artists. He rapidly distinguished himself as one of the companys most accomplished and inventive artists, an exponent of striking, multi-layered and meticulously rendered visual effects. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was born in Tjuirri, an area north of west Alice Springs, also known as Napperby Station. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri AO (c. 1932-2002) was a founding member of the artists cooperative established at Papunya in the early 1970s and one of the most renowned practitioners within the Western Desert art movement. When it held an exhibition of his work in 2004, the Art Gallery of New South Wales described his artistic background: He was an expert wood-carver and took up painting long before the emergence of the Papunya Tula School in the early 1970s. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Clifford Tilmouth Colin Bird Colleen Wallace Nungari Connie Nakamarra Fisher Corinne Nampijinpa Ryan Cornelius Jungarrayi Spencer Cowboy Louie Pwerle D Dadu Gorey Nungarrayi Danny Japaljarri France David Angus Jungala Deborah Napaljarri Wayne Debra Nangala McDonald Debra Young Nakamarra Delores Furber Napaltjarri Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri REGION: PAPUNYA - NORTHERN TERRITORY LANGUAGE: ANMATYERRE B. The National Museum of Australia acknowledges First Australians and recognises their continuous connection to Country, community and culture. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was an Australian artist born in 1932. Carved snake (view from front), 1973, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, pigment on wood, 71 x 40 x 15 cm. [17] It was purchased for A$1,200 by the Commonwealth Bank, which hung it in a bank training centre cafeteria on the Mornington Peninsula. Clifford Possum emerged as one of the leaders in this school of painting, which has come to be called the Western Desert Art Movement. In 1988 and 1990 Tjapaltjarris work was featured in London galleries, bringing an international audience to Papunyas flourishing art practice. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was the most famous of the contemporary artists who lived around Papunya, in the Northern Territory's Western Desert area, when the acrylic painting style (known popularly as "dot art") was initiated. Deborah Hart, Head Curator, Australia Art, leads a conversation with Australian artists Fiona Hall and Judy Watson (Waanyi people). It makes accessible the development of a master painter of the Anmatyerre tribe, one of the founders and leaders of Western Desert art. Close product . On the stations, Tjapaltjarri roamed the land that had been home to 50,000 years of aboriginal people, displaced by the rapid colonization of the early 1900s. Hundreds of Aborigines were forced from tribal lands. He was of the Peltharr skin. Tjapaltjarri was chairperson of Papunya Tula Artists during the early 1980s. Clifford, living at the Papunya Community, was one of the first artists to be involved with the Aboriginal Art Movement. TheCompanion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store. After his father's death in the 1940s his mother married Gwoya Jungarai, better known as One Pound Jimmy, whose image was used on a well known Australian postage stamp. Warlugulong 1976 and several paintings by Aboriginal artists was exhibited at the inaugural Australian Perspecta at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1981, the first time Aborigines had been included in a general survey of Australian contemporary work. [25] The Gallery considers the painting to be possibly the most important in its collection of Indigenous Australian art. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (c.1932-2002) was one of the truly visionary Australian artists of the twentieth century. Go to Artist page. NOTICE:
[9] Like the other four works of the period that are symbolic maps of the artist's country, the painting is accompanied by annotated diagrams of the images and notes that explain the dreamings that they include. Tim Johnson, Tim Johnson Painting, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 202.0 h x 337.5 w cm. Clifford enjoyed a traditional bush upbringing and was given the name Possum by his paternal grandfather. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was the most famous of the contemporary artists who lived around Papunya, in the Northern Territory's Western Desert area, when the acrylic painting style (known popularly as "dot art") was initiated. Through the sheer power and beauty of his paintings, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri introduced his culture to the rest of Australia and then, to the world. Pre-auction, the work was expected to make art history as the most expensive Aboriginal canvas at auction. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, one of the acknowledged pioneers of the contemporary Australian Aboriginal art movement which emerged at Papunya settlement in central Australia in the early 1970s, died in Alice Springs on June 21. They been using the dancing boards, spear, boomerang all painted. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Australia Born: Napperby, Northern Territory, Australia circa 1932 Died: Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia 21 Jun 2002 Language group: Anmatyerr, Central Desert region Biography Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was born on Napperby Station about 200 kilometres north-west of Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Contemporary Indigenous Australian art is a national movement of international significance with work by Indigenous artists, including paintings by those from the Western Desert, achieving widespread critical acclaim. Research 10 Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri prices and auction results in Art. /  1990 Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery Price on request Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Women's Dreaming, c1990 Red Desert Dreamings US$49,500-US$61,875 Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Worm Dreaming Napperby, 1996 LaiSun Keane US$12,000 Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri One of the founding fathers of the Papunya Tula Art Movement, this Anmatyerre artist remains the most celebrated artist in the history of Aboriginal Art and was the first Papunya Tula artist to be given a Retrospective, which began in October . The painting exceeded in size and narrative complexity anything hitherto produced by the Papunya painters. Learn the market value of your Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. He began carving in his late teens and had a reputation as a craftsman before the Papunya painting movement began. Video excerpt from the ABC documentary 'The Exhibitionists' on Utopia artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye. In June he received the Order of Australia for his pioneering work in the development of the Western Desert Art movement, and was to be officially invested with the award on the day he died. This heightened his appreciation of the idea that a painting might function as a map, and as a unified embodiment of place, identity and spirituality.