Hunting boomerang5/28/2023 It can be assumed that Wimmitji Tjapangarti's painting 'Untitled' 1978 refers to the artist's country. His death has highlighted the preciousness and rarity of his paintings, which are extremely hard to find, but are very important in the development of Western Desert painting.Īt Balgo Mission in the late 1940s Wimmitji became an informant for the anthropologists Catherine and Ronald Berndt who were collecting stories and ceremonial information in the region. Balgo paintings are often boldly simple in design but Wimmitji's style is a more complex web of dotted lines, circles and rectangles. The reds and yellows of their most characteristic works are the synthetic equivalents of natural ochre. Their first paintings are in brown ochre tones but by the end of the decade they were using the intensely bright colours for which Balgo canvases are particularly admired. ![]() The most productive period of his career as an artist was from the late 1980s to the early 1990s when he often collaborated on paintings with Eubena Nampitjin, who was then his wife. He was a knowledgeable and important member of his community, a traditional healer and an authority who assisted anthropologists in their research into language and culture. Wimmitji Tjapangarti was one of the first Balgo painters and is regarded by some as the best despite the fairly small number of works he produced. All speak volumes of the artist's country and its many associated stories." This gives them a look of great age which may add to perceptions of their 'authenticity' - though from the artist's perspective this comes from his great involvement in the Law. Tjapangarti's works have a quite idiosyncratic look: they appear rough with much over-dotting and many different shapes and forms. The artist spent all his early years in this area and knows all its sacred places. ![]() He paints Tingari stories for this region. ![]() His country is Kuta Kuta near Percival Lakes. Vivien Johnson wrote in her book 'Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert A Biographical Dictionary': "Born in the bush, probably near Percival Lakes, Tjapangarti was a Kukatja speaker who started painting in 1987.
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