Biography albert namatjira artist

Biography

Although not the first Aboriginal artist to work in a European style, Albert Namatjira is certainly the most famous. Ghost gums with luminous white trunks, palm-filled gorges and red mountain ranges turning purple at dusk are the hallmarks of the Hermannsburg school. Hermannsburg Mission was established by Lutheran missionaries in on the banks of the Finke River, west of Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Namatjira learnt watercolour technique from the artist, Rex Battarbee.

Initially thought of as having succumbed to European pictorial idioms – and for that reason, to ideas of European privilege over the land – Namatjira’s landscapes have since been re-evaluated as coded expressions on traditional sites and sacred knowledge. Ownership of country is hereditary, but detailed knowledge of what it ‘contains’ is learnt in successive stages through ceremony, song, anecdote and contact. Namatjira’s father’s country lay towards Mount Sonder and Glen Helen Gorge, in the MacDonnell Ranges, and his mother’s country was in the region of Palm Valley in Central Australia. In Namatjira’s paintings, the totemic connections to his country are so indelible that, for example, Palm Valley the place and Palm Valley, cs, the painting seem to intersect, detailing Namatjira’s artistic, cultural and proprietorial claim on the land.

Namatjira’s skills in European watercolour painting were interpreted as evidence of the potential success of assimilation policies. In , Namatjira became the first Aboriginal person to be granted conditional Australian citizenship. This entitled him to limited social freedoms and to live in Mparntwe, although he was prohibited from purchasing land. His relations, including his children, were not permitted the same privileges. After an incident in that didn’t directly involve the artist, Namatjira was charged with supplying alcohol to members of the Aboriginal community – at the time, it was illegal for all Aboriginal people, except Nam

The country of the Western Arrarnta was bought to life in vibrant shades when painted by Albert (Elea) Namatjira (–), and other artists of the watercolour school of Hermannsburg. Common subjects in their paintings are the distant mountains and gorges, the river systems, white- trunked gum trees, rocky valleys and the creeks. The area is one of the best watered parts of Central Australia with pale-yellow sands of the wide river beds, the smooth white trunks of the eucalypts and their pale green leaves contrast with the orange hues of the rocky ranges, all combine to provide endless inspiration for the artist’s soul.

Albert (Elea) Namatjira was born on 28 July at Hermannsburg (Ntaria) to Namatjira (later baptised as Jonathan) and his wife Ljukuta (Emilie). In , he was baptised into the Lutheran church along with his father. He attended the school at Hermannsburg Mission and lived in the boys’ dormitorywith  other boys which is located at the western end of the historic precinct. At  the age of 13 he spent six months in the bush and underwent initiation.

He left the mission again at the age of 18 and married Ilkalita, a Kukatja woman. Eight of their children were to survive infancy: five sons (Enos, Oscar, Ewald, Keith and Maurice) and three daughters (Maisie, Hazel and Martha). The family returned to Hermannsburg in , where Ilkalita was baptised as Rubina. In his boyhood, Albert sketched ‘scenes and incidents around him …the cattle-yard, the stockmen with their horses and the hunters after game. He later made artefacts such as boomerangs and woomeras.

Encouraged by the mission authorities, he began to produce mulga-wood plaques with poker-worked designs. In , he was commissioned by Constable W. MacKinnon to make a dozen oval mulga plaques featuring his camel patrol. Meanwhile, he worked as a blacksmith, carpenter, stockman and cameleer-at the mission for rations and on neighbouring stations for wages.

In , and again in , the artists, Rex Bat

Australian painter (–)

Albert Namatjira (pronounced[namacɪra]; born Elea Namatjira; 28 July – 8 August ) was an Arrernte painter from the MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia, widely considered one of the most notable Australian artists. As a pioneer of contemporary Indigenous Australian art, he was arguably one of the most famous Indigenous Australians of his generation. He was the first Aboriginal artist to receive popularity from a wide Australian audience.

A member of the Western Arrernte people, Namatjira was born and raised at the remote Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission, &#;km west-southwest from Alice Springs. He showed interest in art from an early age but it was not until (aged 32) and under the guidance of Rex Battarbee that he began to paint seriously. Namatjira's richly detailed, Western art-influenced watercolours of the outback departed significantly from the abstract designs and symbols of traditional Aboriginal art, and inspired the Hermannsburg School of painting. He became a household name in Australia and reproductions of his works hung in many homes throughout the nation.

In , a portrait of Namatjira by William Dargie became the first of an Aboriginal person to win the Archibald Prize. Namatjira was awarded the Queen's Coronation Medal in , and was honoured with an Australian postage stamp in

Namatjira was the first recorded Northern Territory Aboriginal person to be freed from restrictions that made Aboriginal people wards of the state when he was granted full rights of citizenship in This gave him the right to vote in national, state and territory elections, gave him freedom of movement and freed him from restrictions on buying alcohol; but, in the Northern Territory, he still had limited land rights. However, Namatjira remained poorly treated by the government; he was sentenced to prison after leaving a bottle of rum on the back seat of his car, which was likely taken and con

Albert Namatjira was born on 28 July , the first son of Namatjira and Ljukuta. His father was baptised at the Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission in and adopted the name ‘Jonathan’, and his mother was blessed with the name ‘Emilie’. In the same ceremony, their son Elea, was also baptised and given the now famous name, ‘Albert’.

The Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission was located at the base of Mt. Hermannsburg on the banks of the Finke River in central Australia. Established by missionaries Pastor Kemp and Schwarz in , the settlement was named after the German town, Hermannsburg, where they had trained. Namatjira attended the Lutheran Mission school as a young boy and at thirteen underwent his traditional initiation.

Around eighteen years of age, Namatjira left Hermannsburg to elope with Ilkalita. The couple returned to the mission with their three children in where Ilkalita was baptised and adopted the name ‘Rubina’.

To support his family, Namatjira worked on neighbouring cattle stations and made mulga wood plaques decorated with hot poker designs. He was a competent craftsman, however, following a meeting with Melbourne artist Rex Battarbee during an exhibition of his work at the mission, Namatjira seriously turned his mind to the idea of painting for a living.

Eager to see what he could produce himself, Namatjira requested artist materials from the mission’s superintendent, Pastor Friedrich Albrecht, who then contacted Battarbee for assistance. In reply, Battarbee sent Namatjira his first box of watercolours and the paper to begin experimenting.

Battarbee returned to Hermannsburg in and offered Albert painting lessons in return for his guiding and camaleering skills. The men set off on a two month journey into the MacDonnell Ranges, where Namatjira shared stories of his country while learning the basic techniques of watercolour painting. Battarbee was impressed by Namatjira’s ‘remarkable aptitude in draftsmanship and colour’ and would later select t