Araluen Arts Centre to display Albert Namatjira paintings as part 40th celebrations
The works of six foundational Red Centre artists are returning to country – and will be on display in Central Australia’s biggest town. Find out where you can see them.
Alice Springs
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Artworks by renowned Central Australian artists are returning home and Territorians will be able to see them as part of an art centre’s 40th birthday celebrations.
Araluen Arts Centre in Alice Springs is hitting the milestone on June 1, and to mark the occasion has partnered with the National Gallery to exhibit artworks by Albert Namatjira, Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula, Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, Timmy Payungka Tjapangarti and Old Tutuma Tjapangati.
Four Namatjira artworks will be displayed alongside a piece from each of the other Central Australian artists with the cost of transport, insurance and installation all covered under the Revive program.
Albert Namatjira is a critically acclaimed artist from Hermannsburg/Ntaria, whose watercolour paintings have become synonymous with the Australian outback, according to the National Gallery’s website.
“His images are of a land created in the Dreaming, untamed by the pastoral industry and by other evidence of European settlement,” the website states.
“His subjects were not chosen for their beauty in European terms, but as ancestral landscapes though which he expressed his relationship with the country to which he was spiritually bound.”
The artworks are on loan for two years and are part of the National Gallery’s “Sharing the National Collection” initiative, which is part of the $11.8m “Revive” national cultural policy.
Araluen Arts Centre director Felicity Green said the centre was delighted to be displaying the artworks.
“These artworks, including key works by Albert Namatjira, have particular relevance to Central Australia and our audiences will have the opportunity to experience them within the region that inspired them, and alongside artworks from the Araluen Art Collection,” she said.
Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke said this was the first time the Territory was getting artworks on loan under the scheme.
“These works came from country, they speak to country and now they’re returning to country,” he said.
Mr Burke said 98 per cent of the National Gallery’s collection was in storage.
“We made a decision to get those artworks out of dark storage rooms in Canberra and shared with galleries all around the country,” he said.
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