Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri 1957
Lives in Australia. Works in Australia.
Represented by:
SmithDavidson Gallery
Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri was born around 1958 east of Kiwirkurra in Western Australia. In 1984 the international headlines were filled with the ’discovery’ of the last group of Australian Aborigines who until the late 20th century had managed to retain their traditional lifestyle in complete isolation. These so-called ’last of the nomads’ or ‘lost tribe’ of nine Pintupi walked in from the bush west of Lake Owen that year and for the first time came into contact with western civilization. Six of these nine Aborigines became artists. From these six, Warlimpirrnga was the first who started painting after carefully observing other artists from the community at Kiwirkurra. Within three years, Warlimpirrnga transformed from a nomad with a traditional lifestyle into one of the leading artists from the Papunya Tula Artists corporation.
Warlimpirrnga paints primarily in two styles, he makes extensive use of geometric shapes to depict the stories of the Tingari (ancestors), or he uses lines made up of carefully placed dots in his dreamings that depict holy Lake Mackay, a site of which he is one of the custodians. Warlimpirrnga uses the same dot technique as other Pintupi artists like his brothers, Walala and Thomas, but also George Tjungurrayi.
Visit our website smith-davidson.com for more information.
Warlimpirrnga paints primarily in two styles, he makes extensive use of geometric shapes to depict the stories of the Tingari (ancestors), or he uses lines made up of carefully placed dots in his dreamings that depict holy Lake Mackay, a site of which he is one of the custodians. Warlimpirrnga uses the same dot technique as other Pintupi artists like his brothers, Walala and Thomas, but also George Tjungurrayi.
Visit our website smith-davidson.com for more information.
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Artworks by Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri
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Portrait of Warlimpirnnga Tjapaltjarri
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In museum collection:
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales
In corporate collection:
Luciano Benetton Collection
Market position
Despite the late start of his career, Warlimpirrnga is widely considered one of the most important contemporary First Nations artist, particularly as he is one of the leading artists of the Papunya Tula Artists collective. In 1987 he completed his first painting for the Papunya Tula Artists and in 1988, he held his first exhibition in Melbourne at Gabrielle Pizzi Gallery. His work is included in many private collections worldwide and has appeared in several prominent galleries and museums in Australia and around the world, including the National Gallery of Victoria, Musée du quai Branly Paris and Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). Warlimpirrnga travels back and forth between Alice Springs and his native land around Kiwirrkurra.
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Selected Collections
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
The Kelton Foundation Collection, Santa Monica, USA
Macquarie Group Collection, Sydney, Australia
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Bank Art Museum Moree, Moree, Australia
Griffith University Art Collection, Queensland College of Art, Brisbane, Australia
Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, USA
Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne, Australia
The Luczo Family Collection, USA
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
Art Bank, Sydney, Australia
Museo Sa Bassa Blanca, Mallorca, Spain
Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Paris, France
Corrigan Collection, Sydney, Australia
Luciano Benetton Collection, Venice, Italy
Selected literature
Hetti Perkins, Art + Soul, Miegunyah Press, 2011, p. 76
Paul Toohey, ’The Last Nomads’, The Bulletin, 4 May 2004, p. 28–35
Joan Winter, Native Title Business, Contemporary Indigenous Art
Keeira Press, Queensland, 2002
P. Corbally Stourton, Songlines and dreamings: contemporary Australian aboriginal painting, Lund Humphries, 1996, p. 177
Vivian Johnson, The Dictionary of Western Desert Artists, Craftsman House, East Roseville, New South Wales, 1994
F. Dussart, La Peinture des Aborigines D'Australie, Editions Parentheses, Marseille, 1993;
S. Crossman and J-P. Barou, L'ete Australien a Montpellier: 100 Chefs d'Oevre de la Peinture Australienne, Musee Fabre, Montpellier, France, 1990;
J. Ryan, Mythscapes Aboriginal Art of the Desert from the National Gallery of Victoria, exhib. cat., National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1989. 016:
Singing Up Country | Kudditji Kngwarreye, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
The Kelton Foundation Collection, Santa Monica, USA
Macquarie Group Collection, Sydney, Australia
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Bank Art Museum Moree, Moree, Australia
Griffith University Art Collection, Queensland College of Art, Brisbane, Australia
Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, USA
Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne, Australia
The Luczo Family Collection, USA
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
Art Bank, Sydney, Australia
Museo Sa Bassa Blanca, Mallorca, Spain
Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Paris, France
Corrigan Collection, Sydney, Australia
Luciano Benetton Collection, Venice, Italy
Selected literature
Hetti Perkins, Art + Soul, Miegunyah Press, 2011, p. 76
Paul Toohey, ’The Last Nomads’, The Bulletin, 4 May 2004, p. 28–35
Joan Winter, Native Title Business, Contemporary Indigenous Art
Keeira Press, Queensland, 2002
P. Corbally Stourton, Songlines and dreamings: contemporary Australian aboriginal painting, Lund Humphries, 1996, p. 177
Vivian Johnson, The Dictionary of Western Desert Artists, Craftsman House, East Roseville, New South Wales, 1994
F. Dussart, La Peinture des Aborigines D'Australie, Editions Parentheses, Marseille, 1993;
S. Crossman and J-P. Barou, L'ete Australien a Montpellier: 100 Chefs d'Oevre de la Peinture Australienne, Musee Fabre, Montpellier, France, 1990;
J. Ryan, Mythscapes Aboriginal Art of the Desert from the National Gallery of Victoria, exhib. cat., National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1989. 016:
Singing Up Country | Kudditji Kngwarreye, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
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