Papunya

The Western Desert painting movement that began at Papunya in 1971, with the cooperative following in 1972. Boards and canvases, the settlement itself, and the Luritja and Pintupi Country the work sets down. After community criticism between 1973 and 1975 the painters adopted over-dotting to conceal restricted designs, so the style the world knows is partly a way of not showing something.

Part of Australia

80 moments in this segment.

1. 1894 - Winnecke surveys Hermannsburg, 1894. Charles Winnecke's survey of the mission station, made for the Horn Scientific Exploring Expedition in 1894. The Territory was then administered by South Australia. Expedition science and mission administration mapped the same ground in the same decade.
2. 1938 - Hermannsburg Mission in the 1930s. A view of the mission photographed by Donald and Isabel Dowling between 1938 and 1948. The Dowlings were outside visitors and the image is theirs, made of a place where Arrernte people lived under mission authority. Namatjira was already selling watercolours by the time it was taken.
3. 1947 - Namatjira signs autographs. The Western Arrernte watercolourist signs for admirers in the late 1940s, at the height of his fame. Namatjira had learned watercolour technique from Rex Battarbee in the 1930s and sold out exhibitions in southern cities. He remained subject to the Northern Territory's racial administration throughout.
4. 1953 - Nursing sister with Namatjira's grandsons. Sister Ellen Kettle holds Albert Namatjira's twin grandsons Mark and John in 1953, both recorded as over eight pounds. The photograph comes from the Ellen Kettle Collection and was made by the health service that administered Aboriginal people in the Territory. The caption notes that Mark later died at Hermannsburg.
5. 1957 - Albert Namatjira, November 1957. A portrait of the painter made in November 1957 by Lionel and Heather Whittaker and released from their collection. The following year Namatjira was convicted of supplying rum to an Aboriginal person, an offence that existed only because of the racial regime from which he alone had been exempted. The photographers were visitors; the sitting is not documented as having any agreement attached.
6. 1957 - Namatjira at work. The artist painting, photographed by Lionel and Heather Whittaker. He worked in watercolour on paper, a European medium he made his own across the ranges west of Alice Springs. He died in 1959 at the age of 57.
7. 1957 - Namatjira's camp and truck. Camp and vehicle photographed in November 1957 by Lionel and Heather Whittaker. Namatjira used the truck to reach painting country and to carry family, and he was under continual pressure to share his earnings under kinship obligation. The image was made by visitors recording a celebrated subject.
8. 1957 - The door of Namatjira's truck. A close view of the vehicle door. Namatjira had been granted Australian citizenship in 1957, uniquely among Aboriginal people in the Territory, which is what made buying alcohol legal for him and illegal for his relatives. The exemption was the mechanism of his conviction the following year.
9. 1959 - Namatjira's grave, Alice Springs. The painter's grave in the Alice Springs cemetery. He died in 1959, aged 57, after a period in custody and a collapse in health. Copyright in his work passed out of family control for decades before being returned to the Namatjira family in 2017.
10. 1959 - Alice Springs cemetery. A wider view of the burial ground, Namatjira's grave to the right. The setting is a municipal cemetery in a town whose institutions had controlled where he could live and what he could buy. The photograph comes from the Whittaker collection.
11. 1972 - Papunya in 1972. A view of the settlement made in 1972 by Lionel and Heather Whittaker, visitors rather than residents, and released to Commons from their collection. That was the year the painters incorporated as Papunya Tula Artists, taking ownership of the sale of their own work. The photograph records the built conditions of a settlement people had been moved into, not chosen.
12. 1974 - Now & Then: Works from Papunya Tula Artists 1974-2020. 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. The footage depicts events of 1974. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, from footage of 1974 held by FireWorks Gallery Brisbane.
13. 1977 - 111 - 167409 - Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri 'Warlugulong' 1977. 1977 held by National Gallery of Australia.
14. 1989 - 112 - 119248 - Emily Kam Kngwarray 'Ntange Dreaming' 1989. 2023 retrospective. The subject sits on Anmatyerre Country. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, from footage of 1989 held by National Gallery of Australia.
15. 1992 - AGOD: Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (1992). ), published by AGOD - Aboriginal Gallery Of Dreamings. The footage depicts events of 1992. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, from footage of 1992 held by AGOD - Aboriginal Gallery Of Dreamings.
16. 1992 - AGOD: Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri Singing (1992). ), published by AGOD - Aboriginal Gallery Of Dreamings. The footage depicts events of 1992. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, from footage of 1992 held by AGOD - Aboriginal Gallery Of Dreamings.
17. 1996 - Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, 1996. A 1996 canvas by Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, from Papunya, held by the Musée du quai Branly in Paris. The catalogue records the subject as Tjunginpa at a site north west of Kintore. Namarari was one of the original group of men who began painting at Papunya in 1971.
18. 1999 - AGOD: Emily Kame Kngwarreye at Oude Kerk (1999). ), published by AGOD - Aboriginal Gallery Of Dreamings. The National Gallery of Australia adopted the orthography Emily Kam Kngwarray for its 2023 retrospective. The footage depicts events of 1999. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, from footage of 1999 held by AGOD - Aboriginal Gallery Of Dreamings.
19. 2002 - The original mission church. The first church built for the Hermannsburg Mission, superseded in 1964 by a new building nearby. Services here were conducted partly in Arrernte, and the missionaries produced early written records of the language. The old church now stands within the heritage precinct.
20. 2005 - 115 - 151602 - Lorna Brown Napanangka 'Grandfather's Country at Warren Creek' 2005. 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. The subject sits on Pintupi Country. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, from footage of 2005 held by National Gallery of Australia.
21. 2006 - AGOD: Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri - Changing Style (2006). ), published by AGOD - Aboriginal Gallery Of Dreamings. Australian prisoners of war were held by Japan in Changi and on the Burma railway. The footage depicts events of 2006. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, from footage of 2006 held by AGOD - Aboriginal Gallery Of Dreamings.
22. 2007 - Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri: Warlugulong (2007). ), published by AGOD - Aboriginal Gallery Of Dreamings. The footage depicts events of 2007. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, from footage of 2007 held by AGOD - Aboriginal Gallery Of Dreamings.
23. 2008 - Namatjira monument at Hermannsburg. A memorial to the painter at Hermannsburg, the Lutheran mission where he was born and where Battarbee's teaching reached him. The mission is now known by its Arrernte name, Ntaria. Namatjira's descendants have continued to paint in the watercolour tradition he established.
24. 2009 - The Hermannsburg mission precinct. Whitewashed mission buildings, the old church at right, preserved as a historic precinct. Lutheran missionaries founded the station in 1877 on Western Arrernte Country. The watercolour school that produced Namatjira grew out of this institution, which is both the source of his training and part of the apparatus that constrained him.
25. 2009-11-22 - Emily Kame Kngwarreye exhibition. 2023 retrospective. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by DacouGallery in 2009.
26. 2010-01-20 - DACOU: Barbara Weir talks about Emily Kame Kngwarreye.wmv. 2023 retrospective. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by DacouGallery in 2010.
27. 2010 - Detail of a dot painting. Close on the surface of an Aboriginal dot painting. The technique that became the movement's signature was not simply decorative: over-dotting was taken up to obscure restricted designs after community criticism of the early boards between 1973 and 1975. The style the market prizes carries a concealment inside it.
28. 2010-08-06 - Namatjira's story. (Australia) and concerning Northern Territory. Albert Namatjira was granted citizenship rights in 1957 and convicted in 1958 of supplying rum to an Aboriginal person, an offence that existed only because of the racial regime he alone had been exempted from. He died in 1959, aged 57. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2010.
29. 2010-09-09 - Ntaria's Male Wellbeing Centre strengthens community. 1957 and convicted in 1958 of supplying rum to an Aboriginal person, an offence that existed only because of the racial regime he alone had been exempted from. He died in 1959, aged 57. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Department of Social Services, Australian Government in 2010.
30. 2011 - Haasts Bluff on the road to Papunya. The sandstone escarpment stands out along the drive from Glen Helen towards Papunya, its structure exposed after a bushfire cleared the undergrowth. The rock is Heavitree Quartzite of Neoproterozoic age. Haasts Bluff, or Ikuntji, is a community in its own right and one of the places painters at Papunya came from.
31. 2011 - Escarpment above the Luritja road. A second view of the same cliff line west of Alice Springs. Country of this kind is what the early Papunya boards set down, not as landscape in the European sense but as the routes and sites held in the paintings. The distinction is why the work resisted being read as scenery.
32. 2011-09-27 - Significant Tjapaltjarri painting surfaces. (Australia). Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2011.
33. 2011-09-30 - Western Desert Art. (Australia). Over-dotting was adopted to conceal restricted designs after community criticism between 1973 and 1975. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2011.
34. 2011-11-27 - Age journalist wins Walkley for book on Papunya. (Australia) and concerning Northern Territory. The painting movement began at Papunya in 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2011.
35. 2012-02-27 - Man sentenced to jail over Yuendumu death. (Australia) and concerning Northern Territory. The people named here are Warlpiri. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2012.
36. 2012-06-05 - Namatjira still proves a big artistic hit. (Australia). Albert Namatjira was granted citizenship rights in 1957 and convicted in 1958 of supplying rum to an Aboriginal person, an offence that existed only because of the racial regime he alone had been exempted from. He died in 1959, aged 57. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2012.
37. 2012 - A map of Pintupi Country. The area west of Alice Springs as it stood in the mid 1980s, showing the lands of the Pintupi. Pintupi people were among the last brought into settlements, some arriving at Papunya only in the 1960s. Several of the movement's founding painters had walked in from this Country as adults.
38. 2012 - Papunya Tula at documenta 13. Visitors look at work by Doreen Reid Nakamarra, born 1950 in the Warburton Ranges, and Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, born 1958 near Kiwirrkurra, hung in the Museum Fridericianum in Kassel during documenta 13. Both painters were members of the Papunya Tula Artists collective. The cooperative formed in 1972 was by then placing work in the largest contemporary art exhibitions in Europe.
39. 2013-04-07 - Aboriginal art scholar Brenda Croft on Emily Kame Kngwarreye's Alagura too dry. 2023 retrospective. Custodianship here is Anmatyerre. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in 2013.
40. 2013 - The settlement at Papunya. Houses and open ground in the community about 240 kilometres north west of Alice Springs. Papunya was established as a government settlement in the late 1950s, gathering Luritja, Pintupi, Warlpiri, Anmatyerr and Arrernte people who had been moved off their own Country. The painting movement began here in 1971, when men started transferring designs onto board.
41. 2013 - Western Desert canvas at the quai Branly. A twentieth century Aboriginal painting on display in the Paris ethnographic museum, photographed in 2013. Papunya work entered European museum collections within two decades of the first boards being painted. The catalogue entry for this piece names no artist.
42. 2013-10-16 - AGOD: Walala Tjapaltjarri Aboriginal Art. 2013.
43. 2013-12-04 - AGOD: Thomas Tjapaltjarri 10026ec. 2013.
44. 2015-01-05 - Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri 'Sunrise chasing away the night'. ', published by National Gallery of Australia. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by National Gallery of Australia in 2015.
45. 2015-07-21 - Indigenous art celebrated in new exhibition. 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by AP Archive in 2015.
46. 2016-03-20 - Kudditji Kngwarreye - My Country. 2023 retrospective. The people named here are Anmatyerre. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by The Australian Aboriginal Art Gallery in 2016.
47. 2016-05-26 - Streets of Papunya: The reinvention of Papunya painting | RMIT University. Streets of Papunya: The reinvention of Papunya painting, published by RMIT University and concerning Northern Territory. The painting movement began at Papunya in 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by RMIT University in 2016.
48. 2016 - The Gibson Desert from orbit. A false colour Sentinel-2A image covering more than 150,000 square kilometres of gravel plain, spinifex and dunefield. Drought in the 1980s pushed a Pintupi group east across this country into contact with Australian society, described as one of the last first contact events on the continent. The blue shapes on the left are dry lake remnants.
49. 2016-06-27 - Emily Kngwarreye. 2023 retrospective. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by The Australian Aboriginal Art Gallery in 2016.
50. 2017-03-01 - Albert Namatjira copyright - The Feed. 1957 and convicted in 1958 of supplying rum to an Aboriginal person, an offence that existed only because of the racial regime he alone had been exempted from. He died in 1959, aged 57. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by SBS The Feed in 2017.
51. 2017-03-29 - Streets of Papunya. 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by National Museum of Australia in 2017.
52. 2017-06-10 - Papunya Mural Project - Trachoma "Clean Faces, Strong Eyes". ", published by Indigenous Hip Hop Projects and concerning Northern Territory. The painting movement began at Papunya in 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Indigenous Hip Hop Projects in 2017.
53. 2017 - Coolamons at a rock hole near Yuendumu. Marietta Nambajinpa Hargraves, at right, with coolamons at a rock hole outside Yuendumu on 5 December 2017, photographed by Ed Gold. Yuendumu is a Warlpiri community north west of Alice Springs and one of the desert art centres that followed Papunya. Warlpiri painting there developed its own visual conventions rather than copying the Papunya style.
54. 2017-07-11 - NAIDOC 2017 Our Languages Matter 2017 Profile Albert Namatjira. 1957 and convicted in 1958 of supplying rum to an Aboriginal person, an offence that existed only because of the racial regime he alone had been exempted from. He died in 1959, aged 57. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by FIRST NATIONS TV in 2017.
55. 2019 - Yam Dreaming on a Qantas Dreamliner. A Boeing 787-9 on approach to New York in a livery derived from a work by Emily Kam Kngwarray. Desert painting reached commercial aviation within a generation of the first Papunya boards. The reach is a measure of both the work's standing and the distance between an artist's Country and its uses.
56. 2020-09-06 - Papunya Artists Men's stories. 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Desart TV in 2020.
57. 2020-09-07 - Tjupi Old Car Tjukurrpa. 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Desart TV in 2020.
58. 2020-09-25 - Archibald Prize won by Vincent Namatjira with self portrait alongside Adam Goodes | ABC News. Archibald Prize won by Vincent Namatjira with self portrait alongside Adam Goodes, published by ABC News (Australia). Albert Namatjira was granted citizenship rights in 1957 and convicted in 1958 of supplying rum to an Aboriginal person, an offence that existed only because of the racial regime he alone had been exempted from. He died in 1959, aged 57. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2020.
59. 2020-11-24 - Ronnie Tjampitjinpa 'Special Edition' exhibition video. 1973 and 1975. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by FireWorks Gallery Brisbane in 2020.
60. 2020-12-18 - Albert Namatjira, Australia's Best Painter (Artists You Should Know 1). ), published by Elsie's Gallery. Albert Namatjira was granted citizenship rights in 1957 and convicted in 1958 of supplying rum to an Aboriginal person, an offence that existed only because of the racial regime he alone had been exempted from. He died in 1959, aged 57. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Elsie's Gallery in 2020.
61. 2021-03-10 - Pioneering Indigenous artist Kumantje Nelson Jagamara remembered in Alice Springs | ABC News. Pioneering Indigenous artist Kumantje Nelson Jagamara remembered in Alice Springs, published by ABC News (Australia) and concerning Northern Territory. The painting movement began at Papunya in 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2021.
62. 2021-09-10 - Celebrating 50 years of the Papunya art movement | ABC News. Celebrating 50 years of the Papunya art movement, published by ABC News (Australia) and concerning Northern Territory. The painting movement began at Papunya in 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2021.
63. 2021-11-02 - George Tjungurrayi, Artists Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd. 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. The material concerns Pintupi Country. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Desart TV in 2021.
64. 2021-11-02 - Matthew Tjapangati, Papunya Tula Artists. 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Desart TV in 2021.
65. 2021-11-02 - Women Artists of Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd Collaboration. 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Desart TV in 2021.
66. 2021-11-18 - Brighter Together Projection Mapping: Papunya Tula Artists. 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Kluge, Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection in 2021.
67. 2022-06-23 - IOP | Papunya, NT - Papunya Palya. IOP, published by Indigenous Outreach Projects and concerning Northern Territory. The painting movement began at Papunya in 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Indigenous Outreach Projects in 2022.
68. 2022-08-31 - Matthew Tjapangati, Papunya Tula | Mparntwe (Alice Springs) NT. Matthew Tjapangati, Papunya Tula, published by Desart TV and concerning Northern Territory. The painting movement began at Papunya in 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Custodianship here is Pintupi. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Desart TV in 2022.
69. 2022-09-01 - Warlukurlangu Artists | Yuendumu | Northern Territory. Warlukurlangu Artists, published by Desart TV and concerning Northern Territory. The subject sits on Warlpiri Country. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Desart TV in 2022.
70. 2022-10-26 - Utopia Art Centre | Audrey, Ruby and Lucky Morton Kngwarreye | Alparra NT. Utopia Art Centre, published by Desart TV and concerning Northern Territory. The National Gallery of Australia adopted the orthography Emily Kam Kngwarray for its 2023 retrospective. Custodianship here is Anmatyerre. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Desart TV in 2022.
71. 2022-12-18 - The Exhibitionists | Emily Kam Kngwarray. The Exhibitionists, published by National Gallery of Australia. The National Gallery of Australia adopted the orthography Emily Kam Kngwarray for its 2023 retrospective. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by National Gallery of Australia in 2022.
72. 2023-06-08 - The INCREDIBLY talented Western Desert artist George Ward Tjungurrayi.. 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Altyerre Aboriginal Art in 2023.
73. 2023 - A road sign corrected by hand. At the Simpsons Gap turnoff, someone has crossed out Alice Springs and Hermannsburg and written in Mparntwe and Ntaria. The Arrernte names are the older ones and are now in widespread official use. The sign records the change happening ahead of the signage.
74. 2023-10-03 - The life and art of Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, The master from Marnpi. 2023.
75. 2024-01-16 - Fred Myers in conversation with Mantua Nangala and Marlene Nampitjinpa, Pintupi Way. 2024.
76. 2024-09-23 - Emily Kam Kngwarray. 2023 retrospective. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by National Gallery of Australia in 2024.
77. 2024-12-21 - Ancient stories and priceless illustrations uncovered in Papunya exhibition | ABC NEWS. Ancient stories and priceless illustrations uncovered in Papunya exhibition, published by ABC News (Australia) and concerning Northern Territory. The painting movement began at Papunya in 1971 and the Papunya Tula cooperative was formally established in 1972. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2024.
78. 2025-03-15 - These sisters didn't know white people existed. Then one day everything changed. | ABC Australia. These sisters didn't know white people existed, Then one day everything changed, published by ABC Australia. The people named here are Pintupi. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by ABC Australia in 2025.
79. 2025 - Kngwarray at Tate Modern. An exhibition of the work of Emily Kam Kngwarray at Tate Modern in London. The National Gallery of Australia adopted this spelling of her name in 2023, replacing the earlier Kame Kngwarreye. Kngwarray was an Anmatyerr woman from Utopia in the Northern Territory who began painting on canvas late in life.
80. 2025-07-20 - Come and Explore the FIRST EVER European retrospective by Emily Kam Kngwarray - Simply Stunning!. 2023 retrospective. Filed as a Western Desert painting record, posted by Art Gallery Explorer in 2025.