Ningura Napurrula
Ningura Napurrula | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | c.1938 Waltuka, Kiwirrkurra |
| Died | 11 November 2013 |
| Notable work | Wirrulnga Sequence |
| Movement | Papunya Tula Art |
| Spouse | Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi |
Ningura Napurrula (born c.1938 – 2013) was a Pintupi-speaking Indigenous Australian artist from the Western Desert, whose work was internationally acclaimed. Her works included a site-specific commission for the ceiling of the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, as well as appearing on an Australian postage stamp.
Personal life
[edit]Napurrula was born circa 1938 in Watulka, south of Kiwirrkurra in the East Gibson Desert, Western Australia.[1] Her first journey out of the desert was in 1962 with the Northern Territory Welfare Branch patrol, when her son needed medical treatment at Papunya.[2] She travelled with her son and her husband, Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi, back to Kiwirrkurra that year.[2] The following year Napurrula and her family group returned, this time as part of a migration of the Pintupi people due to drought.[2][3]
Napurrula died on 11 November 2013 from kidney disease.[2][4] Her sons Morris Gibson Tjapaltjarri (Mawitji) and Adam Gibbs Tjapaltjarri are painters, as well as her daughter Glenys Napaltjarri.[2][5]
Career
[edit]It was through her husband, Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi's painting that Napurrula first began work as an artist, supporting the production of his work, alongside his two other wives.[2] Tjungurrayi was a founder of the Papunya Tula Artists and was a proponent of the Tingari style of painting, which was popular in Pintupi men's painting in the 1990s.[2] In the 1980s the family moved to live in Walungurru, a newly established settlement and it was here that Tjungurrayi's wives, including Napurrula, worked on his paintings.[2]
Artistic style
[edit]In 1995, Napurrula joined the Kintore/Haasts Bluff women's painting project, which was in its second year at that time.[6] It was there that she developed her signature style of diachrome patterns, with occasional use of colour.[6] She formally joined the Papunya Tula company in 1996.[5] Napurrula, along with other women artists, revitalised the company with their work, after the death of many of the male artists in the preceding years.[7]
After her husband's death in 1998, the volume of paintings she produced increased.[2] Her style is reminiscent of some of Tjungurrayi's work, but her subject - women's lives and experiences and their role in mythology – differs.[2][8] Comparisons have been drawn between her work and that of other Papunya Tula artists, such as Makinti Napanangka and Inyuwa Nampitjinpa.[2] Her status not just as an artist, but as a guardian of cultural heritage meant she was highly regarded in her community and beyond in her lifetime.[9] The palette she used and the way the paint is layered on the canvas is seen as reminiscent of how body paint is used by women in ceremonial activities.[10]
Early works examined a range of subjects, but later in her career much of Napurrula's work focussed on the rockhole site of Wirrulnga, which was closely associated with birth and women's lives.[11]
During her lifetime, Napurrula donated works to set-up and support the Western Desert Dialysis program.[4] The program made dialysis available to remote communities through a purple lorry, which travelled between them; Napurrula's work featured on one side of it.[4] At the end of her life she benefited from the treatment the program she had supported could provide.[4]
Exhibitions
[edit]Napurrula's work was exhibited in several group shows in 1999 in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin.[12] Her first solo exhibition was at William Mora Aboriginal Art in 2000.[1] In 2015 her work featured in a joint exhibition in Singapore, alongside the work of Nanyuma Napagati.[13] Her work has been exhibited in dozens of other exhibitions.[1]
In 2002, her work reached national prominence when it featured on an Australian postage stamp.[6]
Collections
[edit]Napurrula's work is highly collectable and in 2007 and 2008 she was voted one of Australia's most collectable artists by Australian Art Collector Magazine.[14] Her work is held by a number of significant galleries, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, where several works are part of the larger suite Tjukurrpa Palurukutu, Kutjupawana Palyantjanya – same stories, a new way.[15] Other collections include: National Gallery of Australia.[16]
Musée du Quai Branly
[edit]In 2006 Napurrula with three other female and four male artists were commissioned by the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris to produce new works for its ceilings and roof.[6][12][17][18][19] She saw this as the pinnacle of her career.[9] Napurrual created a huge design on the first floor ceilings of the museum, based on the work Wirrulnga in the collection at the National Gallery of New South Wales.[20]
Awards
[edit]2002 - Highly Commended in the Alice Prize[21]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Ningura Napurrula – Artist Biography". www.kateowengallery.com. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Ningura Napurrula :: The Collection :: Art Gallery NSW". www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ Ningura Napurrula : nurturing the dreaming = peindre pour nourrir le rêve (PDF). Paris: Arts d'Australie. 2014. p. 9. ISBN 978-2-9544576-4-2. OCLC 889704998.
- ^ a b c d Ningura Napurrula : nurturing the dreaming = peindre pour nourrir le rêve (PDF). Paris: Arts d'Australie. 2014. p. 44. ISBN 978-2-9544576-4-2. OCLC 889704998.
- ^ a b Ningura Napurrula : nurturing the dreaming = peindre pour nourrir le rêve (PDF). Paris: Arts d'Australie. 2014. p. 13. ISBN 978-2-9544576-4-2. OCLC 889704998.
- ^ a b c d "Ningura Napurrula – 34 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy". www.artsy.net. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ Newstead, Adrian. The dealer is the devil : adventures in the Aboriginal art trade. Hessey, Ruth., Borghesi, Emma., Klinner, Kerry. Blackheath, Australia. ISBN 978-1-921556-45-6. OCLC 874178393.
- ^ "Ningura Napurrula Paintings & Artist Profile – Japingka Gallery". Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ a b Ningura Napurrula : nurturing the dreaming = peindre pour nourrir le rêve (PDF). Paris: Arts d'Australie. 2014. p. 5. ISBN 978-2-9544576-4-2. OCLC 889704998.
- ^ Ningura Napurrula : nurturing the dreaming = peindre pour nourrir le rêve. Paris: Arts d'Australie. 2014. p. 25. ISBN 978-2-9544576-4-2. OCLC 889704998.
- ^ Ningura Napurrula : nurturing the dreaming = peindre pour nourrir le rêve (PDF). Paris: Arts d'Australie. 2014. p. 32. ISBN 978-2-9544576-4-2. OCLC 889704998.
- ^ a b "NINGURA NAPURRULA". gannonhousegallery.com. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ "Ningura Napurrula and Nanyuma Napagati solo exhibition | Art in Singapore". Time Out Singapore. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ "Ningura Napurrula Gibson – Mitchell Fine Art, Brisbane". www.mitchellfineartgallery.com. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ "Works from the collective title Tjukurrpa Palurukutu, Kutjupawana Palyantjanya – same stories, a new way :: The Collection :: Art Gallery NSW". www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ Napurrula, Ningura. "Wirulnga". Item held by National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ "Aboriginal works on the roof and ceilings". www.quaibranly.fr. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ Naumann, Peter (2006). "Making a Museum: "it is making theater, not writing theory" An Interview with Stéphane Martin, Présidentdirecteur général, Musée du quai Branly". Museum Anthropology. 29 (2): 118–127. doi:10.1525/mua.2006.29.2.118. ISSN 1548-1379.
- ^ Jolly, Margaret (2011). "Becoming a "New" Museum?: Contesting Oceanic Visions at Musée du Quai Branly". The Contemporary Pacific. 23 (1): 105–140. doi:10.1353/cp.2011.0007. hdl:10125/22319. ISSN 1527-9464.
- ^ Ningura Napurrula : nurturing the dreaming = peindre pour nourrir le rêve (PDF). Paris: Arts d'Australie. 2014. p. 17. ISBN 978-2-9544576-4-2. OCLC 889704998.
- ^ "Grasstree Gallery - Indigenous Australian Aboriginal Art - Ningura Napurrula". www.grasstreegallery.com.au. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
