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Uta Uta Tjangala, artist
Australian - Aboriginal, 1920 - 1990
Uta Uta Tjangala (Australian, Pintupi, 1920-1990) Untitled, 1971
Pressboard, tempera paint
23 13/16 x 13 3/4 (60.5 x 35 cm)
Gift of the Gantner Myer Aboriginal Art Collection 2002.70.1

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Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: Fifth Papunya consignment, Alice Springs. "Completed at Papunya when the art movement began in 1971, it was part of the fifth consignment sent to the small shop in Alice Springs that sold the work of the senior men who had just begun painting under the guidance of the teacher Geoff Bardon" (Isaacs, Jennifer. Spirit Country: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Franicsco, 1999: p. 32). PUBLICATIONS: 2009 FAM Bulletin entry (unabridged) - "Papunya Tula is a settlement established by the Australian government in the late 1950s for the purposes of assembling and assimilating desert Aboriginals. (1) In response to the trauma of this social policy, senior Papunya Tula men founded a contemporary art movement as a strategy of resistance. Uta Uta Tjangala was an influential leader. In 1971 he gave up his gardening job to focus his energy on propagating his culture, translating ancient Aboriginal myths, stories, and perspectives into contemporary artworks. This bold move inspired many other men to pick up a paintbrush and express their heritage. Aboriginal contemporary art flourished and, gradually, the government did shift its policy from assimilation to integration and self-determination. Papunya Tula men obtained their invaluable art supplies and art market insights from a visiting schoolteacher named Geoff Bardon. In addition to organizing the landmark mural Honey Ant Dreaming on the exterior wall of a schoolhouse, Bardon introduced hundreds of Aboriginal paintings to collectors at the Arms Art Gallery and Stuart Art Centre in Alice Springs. (2) In this painting, Tjangala included sacred symbols related to a Dreaming about the Tingari journey, a ceremonial passage of ancestral beings. (3) It is an archetypal design appearing in rock engravings and applied to weapons, shields, and emblems, though this warm pattern of concentric circles and interconnecting paths shows the distinctive style of Tjangala. (4) The circles denote sit-down places, while the paths indicate traveling lines. (5) This early work is done on board, though Tjangala eventually transitioned to large-scale canvases. He exhibited at the XVII Bienal do Sao Paulo in 1983 and he won the 2nd National Aboriginal Art Award in 1985." FOOTNOTES (1) Patrick Corbally Stourton, Songlines and Dreamings: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Painting, the First Quarter-century of Papunya Tula (London: Lund Humphries Publishers, 1996), 24. (2) Corbally Stourton, Songlines, 25. (3) Hetti Perkins and Hannah Fink. Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius (Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2000), 229. (4) Jennifer Isaacs. Spirit Country: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art (San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Franicsco, 1999), 32-33. (5) Geoffrey Bardon. Papunya Tula: Art of the Western Desert (Ringwood, Victoria: McPhee Gribble, 1991), 97. 1999 - Isaacs, Jennifer. Spirit Country: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Franicsco, p. 32-35.

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Untitled 1990 1920 Tjangala Uta Myer Gantner Gift 32 p 1999 Franicsco Museums Arts Fine Francisco San Aboriginal Australian Contemporary Country Spirit Jennifer Isaacs Bardon Geoff teacher guidance begun just who men senior work sold shop small sent part 1971 began movement art Completed Springs Alice consignment Papunya Fifth people Pintupi Oceania Desert Western Australia Painting paint tempera Pressboard lines traveling indicate paths while places down sit denote circles beings ancestral passage ceremonial journey Tingari Dreaming related symbols sacred These Uta Uta Tjangala Australian - Ab 0820200316510010 A361868 2002.70.1 AOA