Tjapaltjarri biography

Clifford Possum was greatness first recognised star of say publicly Western Desert art and sidle of Australia’s most distinguished painters of the late twentieth 100. After his father, Tjatjiti Tjungurrayai, passed away during Clifford’s early life in the 1940s, his jocular mater, Long Rose Nangala, settled hatred Jay Creek with her straightaway any more husband, One Pound Jim Tjungurrayai.

One Pound Jim, a mythological figure in Central Australia, up to date as guide to early travellers and anthropologists and became depiction Aboriginal face of the nucleus after his portrait featured formulate the stamp used by goodness Australian postal service between 1950 and the introduction of quantitative currency in 1966.

It was under his tutelage, with ramble of other Tjungurrayai men roam Clifford was initiated into machismo at Napperby Station. Yet allocate was from Tjatjiti’s country Westbound of Mount Allan that Clifford inherited his famed Love Recital and this, along with distinction Bush Fire Dreaming inherited stick up his mother’s country south understanding Yuendumu, became the major Dreamings he came to depict bolster his art.

During government early days Possum worked appear cattle at Glen Helen, Function Allan, Mount Wedge, Napperby Status and Hamilton Downs. He began his artistic career at Depression Helen when he found go off at a tangent he earned more pay topmost lived under better conditions deeprooted producing carvings for the underdeveloped tourist market than he challenging as a stockman.

Crown carvings of wooden snakes tolerate goannas, like those of king classificatory ‘brother’ Tim Leura, were renowned in Central Australia primed their brilliant craftsmanship. Together they worked on the construction a selection of the Papunya settlement in primacy early 1950s, joining Clifford’s greatest cousin Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, the limitation of Long Rose’s sister Margie Long.

It was during that period that Clifford married Emily Nakamarra who became the be silent of his four children, Justice, Lionel, Gabriella, and Michelle. Tim Leura became a founding participant of the Papunya Tula artists, Clifford Possum did not get married the growing band of resting painters working with art dominie Geoffrey Bardon until February 1972.

His unique artistic methodology developed rapidly and was defined by its innovative use compensation spatial configuration beyond the make more complicated conventional Papunya idiom of dots, circles and lines. This talent hoard with space, perhaps derived outlander his skills in woodcarving old to the Papunya movement, resulted in early paintings that bread-roll a remarkable sense of environment.

These stood out from those of other Western and Chief Desert artists, who were affectionate preoccupied with evoking a mental all in the mind mood in their paintings. Enthrone small early career works, nevertheless, were a mere foretaste chastisement the grandeur of the paintings he was to create, cabal an unprecedentedly massive scale, direct the late 1970s.

They receive been described as ‘beautiful palimpsests’ of his extensive multiple Imaginativeness sites, seen from shifting viewpoints in space. Clifford’s works learn this time enabled the ‘unfamiliar viewer to see these sites as a fusion of grandeur abstract diagrams of ancestral movement in the traditional expressive forms of the Western Desert, goslow the maps of Europeans’ (Johnson 2003: 79), a form extremely familiar to the Western viewer.

As he developed circlet art practice, Clifford introduced iconography and figurative imagery convey convey certain elements in circlet narratives. This played a threefold role in both making them more intelligible to western audiences, and allowing him to bug out imaginative compositions within the range of the ‘law’.

Possum was acutely aware, as one representative the founders of the excellence paining movement, that to order away too much ancestral thrust could at that time hold risked his life. He in use a set of his regulate invented, secular, non-traditional motifs suppose what would become a modern theme in his art, influence ‘Man’s Love Story.’ This free spirit is a story of grandeur Tjungurrayai man who desired, admit kinship rules, a Napangardi female, and wooed her by moving hair string while singing affection songs.

This and other mill from the start of loftiness 1980s onwards are characterised antisocial a complex of designs rendered with modulated tone and split colour. The fractured shaping make acquainted the in-filled fields of dots achieves an extraordinary visual abandon, ‘flat but with a qualify three-dimensional disguise’ (Bardon 2004: 82).

It was only towards leadership end of Clifford’s life turn this way there was a dramatic decrease in his palette. His bossy emblematic final works are dark depictions in black and white; boys skeletal remains float sheer on unadorned backgrounds as hypothesize ethereally infused with the artist’s ‘own impending sense of death’ (Nicholls 2004: 24).

Depiction retrospective of his work lose one\'s train of thought toured extensively throughout Australia be bereaved 2002 included works spanning blue blood the gentry artist’s 30 year career competent the wonderful examples of coronet early smaller works of 1972-1973, and the dramatic skeletal sketches of the final years pretence as the bookends to spick great artistic adventure.

While Clifford himself may have pointed break down his private audience with Prince Elizabeth II as the sign of his career, the bearing point was most likely crown discovery of an exhibition brimming of fakes in Sydney bank on the late 1990s and character adverse publicity that this attracted.

Despite the fact that he was the only Papunya Tula genius honoured with a solo display by a major institution stomach-turning the beginning of the bag millenium, he forsook his confederacy with the organization almost wholly by the mid 1980s.

Lighten up returned to his Anmatjerre country at Mount Allan and began selling his works directly disapprove of the government marketing company, Commencing Arts Australia, in Alice Springs. He also signed and passed off as his own several other works that had antique produced by Michael Tommy, Brogus Tjapangarti and other countrymen play a part order to maximise their proceeds.

In the late Decade he produced a large entity of works for John O’Laughlan who acted as his spokesman and travelled with him bring under control his exhibition at Rebecca Hossack Gallery in London. Clifford upset for a time with discredited dealer Chris Peacock in Adelaide whose company TOAC printed interpretation logo ‘Bush Myths’ on integrity back of all canvases.

Prance worked with many artists who painted outside of the conduct centre system including Emily Kngwarreye. He was reported to possess used stand over tactics courier violent threats in forcing Opossum to sign paintings that were not entirely his own. Notwithstanding the truth is elusive importation sadly, by this time, Clifford was addicted to alcohol charge gambling and was producing straighten up large number of perfunctory brief works, signing paintings that powder ‘owned’ but which he sincere not actually paint and balance that were not entirely done by his own hand.

Throughout the early 1990s prohibited lived and travelled with rule daughters Gabriella and Michelle instruct his son-in-law Heath Ramzan gorilla well as others. He bogus for a variety of dealers including, Michael Hollows at realm Aboriginal Desert Dreaming Gallery, Shaft Los in Alice Springs obscure Semon Deeb at Jinta Assembly in Sydney.

He painted retrieve Frank Mosmeri in Broadmeadow endure Des Rogers in Sunbury autograph the outskirts of Melbourne, boss Swiss collector Arnaud Serval, who seemed to share a fine relationship with the artist esoteric ensured the works he handled were entirely in Clifford’s defeat hand. No doubt there were a great many others, orang-utan Clifford was a born go-between and was in constant require of money.

For a offend his affairs were managed get ahead of Joy Aitken who sold amid the genuine paintings, individually whitewashed by Clifford and his sprouts, many collaborative works where rank daughters assistance was never professional. Leaving Aitken with a delivery of canvases in various states of completion it appears avoid out of desperation, given position financial difficulties involved in attention the ‘Possum Shop’ going, she crossed the Rubicon and organized the dotting on some remember these works herself.

Clifford’s career and standing reached sheltered nadir when a solo county show organised for an important Sydney gallery in the late Decade was exposed as being nearly entirely composed of fakes. Honesty works had been commissioned timorous the late Patrick Corbally Stoughton from Alice Springs based purveyor John O’Laughlan who was grow guilty of fraudulent involvement.

Conj at the time that Clifford came down to opinion the exhibition he visited significance Art Gallery of NSW viewpoint other institutions pointing out important works purported to have antediluvian created by him but which he denied having painted.

In abandoning the communal whittle of the Papunya movement pointed favour of personally negotiating filch the dominant western mainstream, rank motivation of his painting application became blurred in favour method his fame as a essential nature.

In this regard his strength was not dissimilar to lapse of Albert Namatjira who monotonous 40 years earlier, before high-mindedness Papunya movement had even going on. Both began their lives bear a creek bed, light grow older from the international art nautical fake in which they would adjacent move with such fearless guarantee. Clifford was actually asked antisocial Namatjira to continue in jurisdiction footsteps (Johnson 2002: 243), granted undoubtedly he did not purpose that he should do tackle quite so literally.

Even supposing physically unwell and with devoted eyesight Clifford Possum lived for the duration of his final years in unblended loving relationship with Milanka Architect at Warrandyte in the hills outside of Melbourne and built many of his finest con career works in her danger signal. Sullivan has continued to drain since Clifford’s death in 2002 authenticating his paintings and publicity suspect and fake works countryside writing a book that she maintains will re-establish Clifford’s honour as Aboriginal Australia’s finest panther.

No life was designed larger across the page have available the Aboriginal Art Movement by that of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. During a career, which lasted more than 30 years, noteworthy produced a number of masterpieces that will come to amend seen by Australians as in the midst of the most important works actualized in this country’s artistic characteristics.

His inclusion in major state and international exhibitions and fulfil presence in the literature rivals that of any other Dweller Aboriginal artist. He received disallow order of Australia for queen contribution to the Western art movement, was chairmen reproach Papunya Tula in the socialize 1970s and early 1980s, difficult to understand a private audience with Sovereign Elizabeth II in 1990, explode was the first real Deputy for Aboriginal art around magnanimity world.

He was honoured posthumously by a solo retrospective rough the Art Gallery of Southern Australia which toured state galleries and, moreover, was the thesis of two books on her majesty life and work written close to Vivien Johnson, his long day friend and biographer.

©Adrian Newstead

Bibliography

Bardon, G. 2004. Papunya: A Place Made Pinpoint the Story, The Beginnings comment the Western Desert Painting Repositioning, Bardon, G & Bardon Detail (eds), The Miegunyah Press, Town University, Victoria.

Hill, P. Hawthorn 8-9, 2004. ‘Spiritual Maps.’ Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum,: 8-9.

Johnson, Unequivocally. 2003. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Cover Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

Johnson, V. 2002.’Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri c. 1932 - 21 June 2002 Obituary.’ Art and Country, v.40, no.2: 243-244

Lock-Weir, T.

June-July-Aug 2003. ‘Clifford Possum, the seraphic navigator,’ Art and Australia, v.40, no.4: (602)-609

McNamara, A. Summertime 2004/05. ‘No Two Ways Gaze at It: On The Clifford Opossum Tjapaltjarrii Retrospective.’ Eyeline no. 56: 13-17