Aboriginal Fine Art

Tribe: Luritja / Warlpiri/ Pintupi

Area: Central & Western Desert, Northern Territory

Born: circa 1925-2001

Biography:

Johnny Warrangkula was born in 1925 at Minjilpirri, located south of Lake Mackay and northwest of Illpili. Nearby are two major Dreaming sites; Tijari located north of the Sandy Blight Junction, Western Australia and Kalipimpinpa, situated north-west of the Sandy Blight Junction. Johnny’s mother was of mixed Luritja/Walpiri/Pintupi descent and his father was Luritja/Walpiri. Johnny had a traditional bush childhood with no formal education in western schools. As a boy, Johnny remembers hiding from planes flying overhead that his people called ‘mamu’. Like many Aboriginal families at the time, Johnny and his family moved to Hermannsburg, where a mission had been established. At Hermannsburg, Johnny went through the traditional Aboriginal Law Ceremonies of initiation ‘to become a man’. At Hermannsburg, Johnny also worked as a labourer, digging the foundation for a new airport. The family moved to Haasts Bluff, where Johnny continued his labouring work, helping to build a new airport at Haasts Bluff as well as building roads to Mt.Liebig, Yuendumu and Mt.Wedge. As settlements were established, Johnny moved between various labouring jobs. Payment for his work was always in the form of ‘tucker’ or food, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, sugar, tea and tobacco. Johnny and his family moved from Haasts Bluff to Papunya in 1960.Here a new Aboriginal settlement had been built.
During the Queen’s visit in 1954, Nosepeg Tjupurulla and Johnny Warrangkula were chosen as the Aboriginal representatives to meet the monarch. Whilst Johnny was serving on the Papunya Council with Mick Namarai, Kingsley Tjungarrayi and Limpi Tjapangati, he met a teacher, Geoffrey Bardon. Geoffrey supplied art materials at the request of the Papunya Council members, who were keen to record their stories on a permanent medium. This decision had historical implications as the dot - art movement was born. Geoffrey Bardon referred to Johnny’s paintings as ‘tremendous illusions’ created by Johnny’s personal style of layers of dots. Johnny became known as a major artist in the Aboriginal art movement. In 1984, the Sydney Morning Herald published a photograph of the Director of the Australian National Gallery, James Mollison, next to a work by Johnny Warrangkula. James Mollison declared the work of Papunya Artists to be ‘the finest abstract art ever produced in this country’.For a time between the late 1980’s until the mid 1990’s, Johnny produced few works due to poor eyesight resulting from Trachoma. However, after receiving treatment, Johnny’s enthusiasm for painting was rekindled, mainly driven by his desire to record his stories for future generations and to produce an income for his extended family.
Until his death in 2001, Johnny Warrangkula lived at Papunya with his wife, Gladys Napangka and his eight daughters and two sons.

Collections:

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Orange Regional Gallery, New South Wales
Alice Springs Law Courts, Northern Territory
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
South Australian Museum, Adelaide
Holmes a’ Court Collection, Perth
Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, U.S.A.
The Kelton Foundation, Los Angeles, U.S.A.