What is the Papunya Tula art movement?
Papunya Tula is the art movement that began in 1971 at Papunya, a settlement west of Alice Springs, when Western Desert men started painting traditional designs on boards and canvas. It launched contemporary Aboriginal desert painting.
Papunya was a government settlement where people from several language groups, including Pintupi, Luritja, Warlpiri, Arrernte and Anmatyerr, were moved. In 1971, schoolteacher Geoffrey Bardon encouraged men to paint a mural on the school wall, based on the Honey Ant Dreaming.
Soon, many men were painting on boards and canvas, using acrylic paints to depict ancestral stories, sites and journeys with dots, circles and lines.
Papunya Tula Artists
In 1972, the artists formed Papunya Tula Artists, a company owned and run by Aboriginal people. It is one of Australia's oldest and most successful Aboriginal art enterprises.
Founding artists included Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, Kaapa Tjampitjinpa and Johnny Warangkula Jupurrurla. Women artists joined later and became major figures.
Early Papunya boards now sell for large sums and are held in major museums. The company is now based in Alice Springs.
Did You Know?
The original Honey Ant Dreaming mural at Papunya school was later painted over, but photographs record it.