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Event Date

Start Date: 2011-09-30
End Date: 2012-02-12
Frequency: Once Only The National Gallery of Victoria and Museum Victoria present Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art, a superb exhibition which features over 200 of the first paintings produced at Papunya in 1971-72 by the founding artists of the Western Desert art movement. Works by such celebrated artists as Uta Uta Tjangala, Shorty Lungkata Tjungurrayi and Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula display the mastery of colour and style that characterises the work of the founding Papunya Tula painters.

This important exhibition is presented in partnership with Papunya Tula Artists, to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Papunya Tula movement and the 150th anniversary of the NGV.

These extraordinary works sparked the genesis of the Western Desert art movement, now internationally recognised as one of the most important events in Australian art history. The period 1971-72 was a critical turning point, when the ancient visual language of the Western Desert was rendered permanent on sheets of composition board and thereby transformed into a rich new art form.

Frances Lindsay, Deputy Director, NGV said: "This highly significant exhibition investigates the origins at Papunya of a major contemporary art. At Papunya in the early 1970s a group of senior Indigenous men began to transpose their ephemeral ritual designs on to board. This new art form has changed the way we see the land and the history of art in this country."

Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art is on display until 12 February 2012 at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia.