Contemporary Indigenous Australian art is the modern art work produced byIndigenous Australians, that is,Aboriginal Australians andTorres Strait Islander people. It is generally regarded as beginning in 1971 with apainting movement that started atPapunya, northwest ofAlice Springs, Northern Territory, involving Aboriginal artists such asClifford Possum Tjapaltjarri andKaapa Tjampitjinpa, and facilitated by white Australian teacher and art workerGeoffrey Bardon. The movement spawned widespread interest across rural and remote Aboriginal Australia in creating art, while contemporary Indigenous art of a different nature also emerged in urban centres; together they have become central toAustralian art.Indigenous art centres have fostered the emergence of the contemporary art movement, and as of 2010 were estimated to represent over 5000 artists, mostly in Australia's north and west.
Contemporary Indigenous artists have won many of Australia's most prominent art prizes. TheWynne Prize has been won by Indigenous artists on at least three occasions, theBlake Prize for Religious Art was in 2007 won byShirley Purdie withLinda Syddick Napaltjarri a finalist on three separate occasions, while theClemenger Contemporary Art Award was won byJohn Mawurndjul in 2003 andJudy Watson in 2006. There is a national art prize for Indigenous artists, theNational Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, which in 2013 was won byJenni Kemarre Martiniello from Canberra.
Indigenous artists, includingRover Thomas, have represented Australia at theVenice Biennale in 1990 and 1997. In 2007, a painting byEmily Kngwarreye,Earth's Creation, was the first Indigenous Australian art work to sell for more thanA$1 million. Leading Indigenous artists have had solo exhibitions at Australian and international galleries, while their work has been included in major collaborations such as the design of theMusée du quai Branly. Works by contemporary Indigenous artists are held by all of Australia's major public galleries, including theNational Gallery of Australia, which in 2010 opened a new wing dedicated to its Indigenous collection.
Thefigurative "dot painting" produced byWestern Desert artists is among the most well-known styles of contemporary Aboriginal art.
Aboriginal Australian art can claim to be "the world's longest continuing art tradition".[1] Prior to European settlement of Australia, Indigenous people used many art forms, includingsculpture,wood carving,rock carving,body painting,bark painting, andweaving. Many of these continue to be used both for traditional purposes and in the creation of art works for exhibition and sale. Some other techniques have declined or disappeared since European settlement, including body decoration by scarring and the making ofpossum-skin cloaks. However, Indigenous Australians also adopted and expanded the use of new techniques including painting on paper and canvas.[2] Early examples include the late nineteenth century drawings byWilliam Barak.[3]
In the 1930s, artistsRex Battarbee and John Gardner introduced watercolour painting toAlbert Namatjira, an Indigenous man atHermannsberg Mission, south-west of Alice Springs. His landscape paintings, first created in 1936[4] and exhibited in Australian cities in 1938, were immediately successful,[5] and he became the first Indigenous Australian watercolourist as well as the first to successfully exhibit and sell his works to the non-Indigenous community.[6] Namatjira's style of work was adopted by other Indigenous artists in the region beginning with his close male relatives, and they became known as theHermannsburg School[7] or as theArrernte Watercolourists.[8]
Namatjira died in 1959, and by then a second initiative had also begun. At Ernabella, nowPukatja, South Australia, the use of bright acrylic paints to produce designs for posters and postcards was introduced. This led later to fabric design andbatik work, which is still produced at Australia's oldest Indigenous art centre.[5][9]
While the initiatives at Hermannsburg and Ernabella were important antecedents, most sources trace the origins of contemporary Indigenous art, particularly acrylic painting, toPapunya, Northern Territory, in 1971.[10][11][12] An Australian school teacher,Geoffrey Bardon arrived at Papunya and started an art program with children at the school and then with the men of the community. The men began with painting a mural on the school walls, and moved on to painting on boards and canvas. At the same time,Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, a member of the community who worked with Bardon, won a regional art award at Alice Springs with his paintingGulgardi. Soon over 20 men at Papunya were painting, and they established their own company,Papunya Tula Artists Limited, to support the creation and marketing of works.[10] Although painting took hold quickly at Papunya, it remained a "small-scale regional phenomenon" throughout the 1970s,[13] and for a decade none of the state galleries or the national gallery collected the works,[14] with the notable exception of theMuseum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, that acquired 220 of the early Papunya boards.[citation needed]
After being largely confined to Papunya in the 1970s, the painting movement developed rapidly in the 1980s,[13] spreading toYuendumu,Lajamanu,Utopia andHaasts Bluff in the Northern Territory, andBalgo, Western Australia.[15] By the 1990s artistic activity had spread to many communities throughout northern Australia, including those established as part of theOutstation movement, such asKintore, Northern Territory andKiwirrkurra Community, Western Australia.[16] As the movement evolved, not all artists were satisfied with its trajectory. What began as a contemporary expression of ritual knowledge and identity was increasingly becoming commodified, as the economic success of painting created its own pressures within communities. Some artists were critical of the art centre workers, and moved away from painting, returning their attention to ritual. Other artists were producing works less connected to social networks that had been traditionally responsible for designs.[17] While the movement was evolving, however, its growth did not slow: at least another 10 painting communities developed in central Australia between the late 1990s and 2006.[18]
Indigenous art cooperatives have been central to the emergence of contemporary Indigenous art. Whereas many western artists pursue formal training and work as individuals, most contemporary Indigenous art is created in community groups and art centres.[19] The number of people involved, and the small sizes of the places in which they work, mean that sometimes a quarter to a half of community members are artists, with criticSasha Grishin concluding in 2007 that the communities include "the highest per capita concentrations of artists anywhere in the world".[20]
In 2010, the peak body representingCentral Desert Australian Indigenous art centres,Desart (incorporated in 1993[21]), had 44 member centres,[22] As of January 2024[update] it has 30 member centres.[21][23] It mounts theDesert Mob exhibition and event at theAraluen Arts Centre inMparntwe (Alice Springs) each year.[24]
The Association of Northern, Kimberley and Arnhem Aboriginal Artists (ANKAAA; nowArnhem, Northern and Kimberley Artists, or ANKA[25]), the peak body for northern Australian communities, had 43 member centres in 2010.[26] The centres represent large numbers of artists – ANKAAA estimated that in 2010 its member organisations included up to 5000.[26]
TheAboriginal Art Association of Australia (AAAA), incorporated in January 1999, advocates for all industry participants, including artists, galleries, anddealers. It lobbies and informs governments on behalf of its members on a range of matters.[27]
Indigenous art frequently reflects the spiritual traditions, cultural practices and socio-political circumstances of Indigenous people,[28] and these have varied across the country. The works of art accordingly differ greatly from place to place. Major reference works on Australian Indigenous art often discuss works by geographical region.[29] The usual groupings are of art from theCentral Australian desert; theKimberley in Western Australia; the northern regions of theNorthern Territory, particularlyArnhem Land, often referred to as theTop End; andnorthern Queensland, including theTorres Strait Islands. Urban art is also generally treated as a distinct style of Indigenous art, though it is not clearly geographically defined.
Indigenous artists from remote central Australia, particularly thecentral and western desert area, frequently paint particular 'dreamings', or stories, for which they have personal responsibility or rights.[30] Best known amongst these are the works of thePapunya Tula painters and of Utopia artistEmily Kngwarreye. The patterns portrayed by central Australian artists, such as those from Papunya, originated as translations of traditional motifs marked out in sand, boards or incised into rock.[31] The symbols used in designs may represent place, movement, or people and animals, while dot fields may indicate a range of phenomena such as sparks, clouds or rain.[32]
In the late 1980s and early 1990s the work of Emily Kngwarreye, from theUtopia community north east ofAlice Springs, became very popular. Her styles, which changed every year, have been seen as a mixture of traditional Aboriginal and contemporary Australian. Her rise in popularity has prefigured that of many Indigenous artists from central, northern and western Australia, such as her nieceKathleen Petyarre,Angelina Pwerle,Minnie Pwerle,Dorothy Napangardi, Lena Pwerle, and dozens of others, all of whose works have become highly sought after.[33]
There are some figurative approaches in the art of those of central Australia, such as among some of the painters fromBalgo, Western Australia.[citation needed] Some central Australian artists whose people were displaced from their lands in the mid-twentieth century by nuclear weapon tests have painted works that use traditional painting techniques but also portray the effects of the blasts on their country.[citation needed]
Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara, in remote north-westernSouth Australia, is renowned for its artists, who are always well-represented in any exhibitions and awards for Indigenous Australian artists. In 2017, APY artists earned 25 nominations in the prestigiousTelstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards; two were named as finalists in theArchibald Prize;[34] 14 APY artists' work made the shortlist for the 2019A$50,000Wynne Prize for landscape painting; and in 2019, APY artists also won or were shortlisted for theRamsay Art Prize, theSir John Sulman Prize, theJohn Fries Award, and others.Nici Cumpston, artistic director ofTarnanthi Festival atArt Gallery of South Australia, regularly visits the APY art centres.[35]
The APY Art Centre Collective is as of 2020[update] a group of ten Indigenous-owned and -governed enterprises which supports artists from across the Lands and helps to market their work.[36][34] The collective supports collaborative regional projects, such as the renownedKulata Tjuta project, and the APY Photography initiative. Seven art centres across the Lands support the work of more than 500 Anangu artists,[36] from the oldest one,Ernabella Arts, toIwantja Arts at Indulkana, whose residents include award-winning Vincent Namatjira.[34] Other APY centres areTjala Arts (atAmata),Kaltjiti Arts,Mimili Maku Arts and Tjungu Palya (Nyapari). As well as the APY centres, Maruku Arts fromUluru,Tjanpi Desert Weavers based inAlice Springs, and Ara Iritja Aboriginal Corporation bring the number up to ten.[36]
The Collective has galleries inDarlinghurst, Sydney and, since May 2019, a gallery and studio space onLight Square (Wauwi) inAdelaide.[37][34]
InArnhem Land in the Northern Territory, men have painted their traditional clan designs.[38] The iconography however is quite separate and distinct from that of central Australia.[39] In north Queensland and theTorres Strait many communities continue to practice cultural artistic traditions along with voicing strong political and social messages in their work.
In Indigenous communities across northern Australia most artists have no formal training, their work being based instead on traditional knowledge and skills. In southeast Australia other Indigenous artists, often living in the cities, have trained in art schools and universities.[40] These artists are frequently referred to as "urban" Indigenous artists, although the term is sometimes controversial,[41] and does not accurately describe the origins of some of these individuals, such asBronwyn Bancroft who grew up in the town ofTenterfield, New South Wales,[42]Michael Riley who came from rural New South Wales nearDubbo andMoree,[43] orLin Onus who spent time on his father's traditional country on theMurray River nearVictoria'sBarmah forest.[44] Some, like Onus, were self-taught while others, such as artistDanie Mellor or artist and curatorBrenda Croft, completed university studies in fine arts.[45][46]
In the 1990s a group of younger Torres Strait Island artists, including the award-winning Dennis Nona (b. 1973), started translating traditional skills into the more portable forms ofprintmaking,linocut, andetching, as well as larger scalebronze sculptures. Other outstanding artists include Billy Missi (1970–2012), known for his decorated black and white linocuts of the local vegetation and eco-systems, andAlick Tipoti (b.1975). These and other Torres Strait artists have greatly expanded the forms of Indigenous art within Australia, bringing superb Melanesian carving skills as well as new stories and subject matter.[47] The College of Technical and Further Education onThursday Island was a starting point for young Islanders to pursue studies in art. Many went on to further art studies, especially in printmaking, initially inCairns, Queensland and later at theAustralian National University in what is now the School of Art and Design. Other artists such as Laurie Nona, Brian Robinson, David Bosun, Glen Mackie, Joemen Nona, Daniel O'Shane, and Tommy Pau are known for their printmaking work.[48]
An exhibition ofAlick Tipoti's work, titledZugubal, was mounted at theCairns Regional Gallery in July 2015.[49][50]
Anthropologist Nicholas Thomas observed that contemporary Indigenous art practice was perhaps unique in how "wholly new media were adapted so rapidly to produce work of such palpable strength".[51] Much contemporary Indigenous art is produced using acrylic paint on canvas. However other materials and techniques are in use, often in particular regions. Bark painting predominates amongst artists from Arnhem Land, who also undertake carving and weaving.[15] In central Australian communities associated with thePitjantjatjara people,pokerwork carving is significant.[52] Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander printmaking was in 2011 described by the National Gallery's senior curator of prints and drawings as "the most significant development in recent printmaking history".[53]
Textile production including batik has been important in the northwestern desert regions ofSouth Australia, in the Northern Territory'sUtopia community, and in other areas of central Australia.[15][38] For a decade before commencing the painting career that would make her famous,Emily Kngwarreye was creating batik designs that revealed her "prodigious original talent" and the modernity of her artistic vision.[54] A wide range of textile art techniques, including dyeing and weaving, is particularly associated withPukatja, South Australia (formerly known as Ernabella), but in the mid-2000s the community also developed a reputation for finesgraffito ceramics.[55][56] Hermannsburg, originally home to Albert Namatjira and the Arrente Watercolourists, is now renowned for its pottery.[57][58][59]
Amongst urban Indigenous artists, more diverse techniques are in use such assilkscreen printing, poster making, photography, television and film.[38] One of the most important contemporary Indigenous artists of his generation,Michael Riley worked in film, video, still photography and digital media.[60] Likewise,Bronwyn Bancroft has worked in fabric, textiles, "jewellery design, painting, collage, illustration, sculpture and interior decoration".[61] Nevertheless, painting remains a medium used by many 'urban' artists, such asGordon Bennett,Fiona Foley,Trevor Nickolls,Lin Onus,Judy Watson, andHarry Wedge.[62]
The public recognition and exhibition of contemporary Indigenous art was initially very limited: for example, it was only a minor part of the collection of theNational Gallery of Australia (NGA) when its building was opened in 1982. Early exhibitions of major works were held as part of theSydney Biennales of 1979 and 1982, while a large-scale sand painting was a feature of the 1981Sydney Festival. Early private gallery showings of contemporary Indigenous art included asolo exhibition ofbark paintings byJohnny Bulunbulun at Hogarth Gallery in Sydney in 1981, and an exhibition of western desert artists atGallery A in Sydney, which formed part of the 1982Sydney Festival.[63]
In 1988 theAboriginal Memorial was unveiled at theNational Gallery of Australia inCanberra made from 200hollow log coffins, which are similar to the type used for mortuary ceremonies in Arnhem Land. It was made for thebicentenary of Australia's colonisation, and is in remembrance of Aboriginal people who had died protecting their land during conflict with settlers. It was created by 43 artists fromRamingining and communities nearby.[64] In that same year, the newParliament House in Canberra opened with a forecourt featuring a design byMichael Nelson Jagamarra, laid as amosaic.[65]
There are now a number of regular exhibitions devoted to contemporary Indigenous art. Since 1984, theNational Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award exhibition has been held in theNorthern Territory, under the auspices of theMuseum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.[66] In 2007, the NGA held the firstNational Indigenous Art Triennial (NIAT), which included works by thirty contemporary Indigenous artists such asRichard Bell,Danie Mellor,Doreen Reid Nakamarra andShane Pickett.[67] Despite its name, the second triennial was not held until 2012, and was titledunDisclosed.[68] The third Triennial,Defying Empire, was held in 2017, with the title referencing the 50th anniversary of the1967 referendum.[69]
TheAraluen Centre for Arts and Entertainment, a public art gallery in Alice Springs, hosts the annual Desert Mob exhibition, representing current painting activities across Australia's Aboriginal art centres.[70]
Several individual artists have been the subject ofretrospective exhibitions at public galleries. These have includedRover Thomas at theNational Gallery of Australia in 1994,[71]Emily Kngwarreye, at the Queensland Art Gallery in 1998,John Mawurndjul at theTinguely Museum inBasel, Switzerland in 2005,[72] andPaddy Bedford at several galleries including theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Sydney in 2006–07.[73]
Internationally, Indigenous artists have represented Australia in theVenice Biennale, includingRover Thomas and Trevor Nickolls in 1990, and Emily Kngwarreye, Judy Watson andYvonne Koolmatrie in 1997.[74] In 2000, a number of individual artists and artistic collaborations were shown in the prestigiousNicholas Hall at theHermitage Museum in Russia.[75] In 2003, eight Indigenous artists – Paddy Bedford, John Mawurndjul,Ningura Napurrula,Lena Nyadbi,Michael Riley, Judy Watson,Tommy Watson and Gulumbu Yunupingu – collaborated on a commission to provide works that decorate one of theMusée du quai Branly's four buildings completed in 2006.[76]
In 2005, theAustralian Research Council andLand & Water Australia supported an artistic and archaeological collaboration through the projectStrata: Deserts Past, Present and Future, which involved Indigenous artistsDaisy Jugadai Napaltjarri andMolly Jugadai Napaltjarri.[77]
InLondon,Tate Modern's exhibition,A Year in Art: Australia 1992,[78] which opened in June 2021,[79] was extended until September 2022 owing to its popularity. In mid-2022, theNational Gallery Singapore opened a major exhibition,Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia, which is the most extensive show of its type to tour Asia.[80]
Contemporary Indigenous art works are collected by all of Australia's major public galleries. TheNational Gallery of Australia has a significant collection, and a new wing was opened in 2010 for its permanent exhibition. Some state galleries, such as theArt Gallery of New South Wales,[81] theNational Gallery of Victoria (NGV),[1] theArt Gallery of Western Australia;[82] and theMuseum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory,[83] have gallery space permanently dedicated to the exhibition of contemporary Indigenous art. The NGV's collection includes the country's main collection of Indigenous batik.[84]
South Australia has many galleries showcasing Aboriginal art. TheArt Gallery of South Australia has an extensive collection,[85] as well as being host toTarnanthi, which includes an exhibition, art fair, and other activities across the state every two years,[86] led by curatorNici Cumpston.[87]Flinders University Museum of Art has been collecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art since the early 1980s. Others showcasing Indigenous art includeJamFactory craft and design centre;Samstag Museum of Art;Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute;Nexus Arts; and the smaller but notable Hugo Michell Gallery.[85]
TheAraluen Centre for Arts & Entertainment inAlice Springs hosts the country's largest collection of works by Albert Namatjira.[70]
Galleries outside Australia acquiring contemporary Indigenous art include theBritish Museum and theVictoria and Albert Museum inLondon.[88] TheRebecca Hossack gallery in London has been credited with "almost single-handedly" introducing Australian Indigenous art to Britain and Europe since its opening in 1988.[89]
TheMusée du Quai Branly inParis, France, which opened in 2006, has an "Oceania" collection.[90] It also commissioned paintings on the roof and ceilings of its building on therue de l'Université, housing the museum's workshops and library, by four female and four male contemporary Aboriginal artists:Lena Nyadbi,Judy Watson,Gulumbu Yunupingu,Ningura Napurrula;John Mawurndjul,Paddy Nyunkuny Bedford,Michael Riley, andYannima Tommy Watson.[91][92]
New York'sMetropolitan Museum of Art acquires Indigenous art.[93] Other permanent displays of Indigenous art outside Australia are found atSeattle Art Museum and Glasgow'sGallery of Modern Art.[94]
Museums dedicated solely to Indigenous art (contemporary and traditional) outside of Australia include the following:
TheMuseum of Contemporary Aboriginal Art [nl], inUtrecht, Netherlands, was dedicated to contemporary Aboriginal Australian art,[99] but closed in 2017.[100]
Contemporary Indigenous art works have won a number of Australia's principal national art prizes, including theWynne Prize, theClemenger Contemporary Art Award and theBlake Prize for Religious Art. Indigenous awardees have includedShirley Purdie, 2007 winner of the Blake Prize with her workStations of the Cross;[101] 2003Clemenger Award winnerJohn Mawurndjul, and 2006 Clemenger winner Judy Watson.[102] The Wynne Prize has been won by contemporary Indigenous artists on several occasions, including in 1999 byGloria Petyarre withLeaves; in 2004 by George Tjungurrayi; and in 2008 byJoanne Currie Nalingu, with her paintingThe river is calm.[103]
As well as winning major prizes, Indigenous artists have been well represented among the finalists in these competitions. The Blake Prize has included numerous Indigenous finalists, such asBronwyn Bancroft (2008),[104] Angelina Ngal[105] and Irene (Mbitjana) Entata (2009),[106] Genevieve Kemarr Loy, Cowboy Loy Pwerl, Dinni Kunoth Kemarre, Elizabeth Kunoth Kngwarray (2010), andLinda Syddick Napaltjarri (on three separate occasions).[107]
Australia's major Indigenous art prize is theNational Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award. Established by theMuseum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in 1984,[108] the award includes a major winner and several category awards, including: one forbark painting, one for works on paper, one for three-dimensional works and, introduced for the first time in 2010, one for new media.[109] Winners of the major prize have includedMakinti Napanangka in 2008,[110] andDanie Mellor in 2009.[111]
In 2008, theArt Gallery of Western Australia established theWestern Australian Indigenous Art Awards, which include the country's most valuable Indigenous art cash prize of A$50,000, as well as a A$10,000 prize for the top Western Australian artist, and a A$5000 People's Choice Award, all selected from the field of finalists, which includes 15 individuals and one collaborative group. The 2009 winner of the main prize was Ricardo Idagi, while the People's Choice award was won byShane Pickett.[112] In 2013, Churchill Cann won the Best West Australian Piece (A$10,000) and North Queensland artist Brian Robinson won the Best Overall prize (A$50,000).[113]
Wayne Quilliam was awarded the 2009NAIDOC Artist of the Year for his many years of work on the local and international scene working with Indigenous groups throughout the world.
TheNational Indigenous Heritage Art Awards were held inCanberra from 1993 until 2000,[114] with entries exhibited atOld Parliament House.[115]
The flowering of Indigenous art has delivered economic, social and cultural benefits to Indigenous Australians, who are socially and economically disadvantaged compared to the Australian community as a whole.[116] The sale of art works is a significant economic activity for individual artists and for their communities. Estimates of the size of the sector vary, but placed its value in the early 2000s at A$100 to 300 million, and by 2007 at half a billion dollars and growing.[117] The sector is particularly important to many Indigenous communities because, as well being a source of cash for an economically disadvantaged group, it reinforces Indigenous identity and tradition, and has aided the maintenance of social cohesion.[118] For example, early works painted at Papunya were created by senior Aboriginal men to help educate younger generations about their culture and their cultural responsibilities.[119]
"There is currently an upsurge in interest in Aboriginal art among the Australian public and overseas visitors...The resultant pressure on artists to produce has led ultimately to a collapse or emasculation of the art form. Aboriginal art is now under incredible strain to fulfil white demands on Aboriginal culture."[120]
Fraud and exploitation have been significant issues affecting contemporary Indigenous Australian art, especially after the 1990s boom. Indigenous art works were reproduced without artists' permission, including by theReserve Bank of Australia when it used aDavid Malangi painting on the one-dollar note in 1966.[121] Similar appropriation of material has taken place with fabric designs, T-shirts, and carpets.[122] One of the main reasons theYuendumu movement, based atWarlukurlangu Artists was established, and later flourished, was due to the feeling of exploitation amongst artists.[123] In the 2000s, there were claims of artists being kidnapped, or relocated against the wishes of their families, by people keen to acquire the artists' paintings.[124][125] In August 2006, following concerns raised about unethical practices in the Indigenous art sector, the Australian Senate initiated an inquiry into issues in the sector, which published its report in 2007.[126]
Artists, particularly in the remoter parts of Australia, sometimes paint for outlets other than the Indigenous art centres or their own companies. They do this for economic reasons; however, the resulting paintings can be of uneven quality, and of precarious economic value.[127] Doubts about theprovenance of Indigenous paintings, and about the prices paid for them, spawned media scrutiny around 2006,[128] an Australian parliamentary inquiry,[129] and were a factor limiting the growth in value of works.[130] Questions regarding the authenticity of works have arisen in relation to particular artists, including Emily Kngwarreye, Rover Thomas, Kathleen Petyarre,Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula,Ginger Riley Munduwalawala, andClifford Possum Tjapaltjarri; in 2001 an art dealer was jailed for fraud in relation to Clifford Possum's work.[131] These pressures led in 2009 to the introduction of a commercialcode of conduct, intended to establish "minimum standards of practice and fair dealing in the Indigenous visual arts industry".[132] However, persistent problems in the industry in September 2012 led the chair of the code's administering body Indigenous Art Code,Ron Merkel, to call for the code to be made mandatory for art dealers.[133]
Prices fetched in the secondary market for Indigenous art works vary widely. Until 2007, the record at auction for an Indigenous art work was $778,750 paid in 2003 for a Rover Thomas painting,All That Big Rain Coming from the Top Side. In 2007, a major work by Emily Kngwarreye,Earth's Creation, sold for $1.056 million, a new record that was however eclipsed only a few months later, when Clifford Possum's epic workWarlugulong was bought for $2.4 million by the National Gallery of Australia.[134] At the same time, however, works by prominent artists but of doubtfulprovenance were being passed in at auctions.[135]
In 2003 there were 97 Indigenous Australian artists whose works were being sold at auction in Australia for prices above $5000, with the total auction market worth around $9.5 million. In that yearSotheby's estimated that half of sales were to bidders outside Australia.[136] Despite concerns about supply and demand for paintings, the remoteness of many of the artists, and the poverty and health issues experienced in the communities, in 2007 it was estimated that the industry worth close to half a billion Australian dollars each year, and growing rapidly.[126] By 2012, the market had changed, with older works fetching higher prices than contemporary paintings.[130]
A 2011 change inAustralian superannuation investment rules resulted in a sharp decline in sales of new Indigenous art. The change prohibits assets acquired for a self-managed superannuation fund from being "used" before retirement; in particular, an artwork must be kept in storage rather than displayed.[137]
Initially a source of ethnographic interest, and later an artistic movement with roots outside Western art traditions, Indigenous art was influenced by, and had influence upon, few European Australian artists. The early works ofMargaret Preston sometimes expressed motifs from traditional Indigenous art; her later works show a deeper influence, "in the use of colours, in the interplay of figuration and abstraction in the formal structure".[138] In contrast,Hans Heysen, though he admired fellow landscapistAlbert Namatjira and collected his paintings, was not influenced by his Indigenous counterpart.[139] The contemporary Indigenous art movement has influenced some non-Indigenous Australian artists through collaborative projects. Indigenous artistsGordon Bennett andMichael Nelson Jagamarra have engaged in both collaborative artworks and exhibitions with galleristMichael Eather, and painterImants Tillers, the Australian-born son ofLatvian refugees.[140]
Professor of art history Ian McLean described the birth of the contemporary Indigenous art movement in 1971 as "the most fabulous moment in Australian art history", and considered that it was becoming one of Australia's founding myths, like theANZAC spirit.[141] Art historian Wally Caruana called Indigenous art "the last great tradition of art to be appreciated by the world at large",[142] and contemporary Indigenous art is the only art movement of international significance to emerge from Australia.[143][144] Leading criticRobert Hughes saw it as "the last great art movement of the 20th century",[145] while poetLes Murray thought of it as "Australia's equivalent of jazz".[146] Paintings by the artists of the western desert in particular have quickly achieved "an extraordinarily widespread reputation", with collectors competing to obtain them.[147] Some Indigenous artists are regarded as amongst Australia's foremost creative talent; Emily Kngwarreye has been described as "one of the greatest modern Australian painters",[148] and "among the best Australian artists, arguably amongst the best of her time."[149] Critics reviewing the Hermitage Museum exhibition in 2000 were fulsome in their praise, one remarking: "This is an exhibition of contemporary art, not in the sense that it was done recently, but in that it is cased in the mentality, technology and philosophy of radical art of the most recent times. No one, other than the Aborigines of Australia, has succeeded in exhibiting such art at the Hermitage".[75]
The assessments have not been universally favourable. When an exhibition was held in the United Kingdom in 1993, a reviewer inThe Independent described the works as "perhaps the most boring art in the world".[150] Museum curator Philip Batty, who had been involved in assisting the creation and sale of art in central Australia, expressed concern at the effect of the non-Indigenous art market on the artists – particularly Emily Kngwarreye – and their work. He wrote "there was always a danger that the European component of this cross-cultural partnership would become overly dominant. By the end of her brief career, I think that Emily had all but evacuated this intercultural domain, and her work simply became a mirror image of European desires".[151] Outstanding art works are mixed with poor ones, with the passage of time yet to filter the good from the bad.[152]
There was evidence of a resurgence of interest in contemporary Australian Indigenous art in the early 2020s, both at home and abroad. Works at theFremantle Arts Centre's 2022Revealed exhibition, featuring early-career artists, sold three-quarters of the works on the first night. InLondon, England,Tate Modern's exhibition,A Year in Art: Australia 1992, which opened in June 2021, was extended until September 2022 owing to its popularity.[80] In 2022,Sotheby's inNew York moved its annual Australian Indigenous art sale from the winter off-season to the May "marquee month",[153] with the highest-selling work going for just over one million Australian dollars. In mid-2022, theNational Gallery Singapore opened a major exhibition,Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia, which is the most extensive show of its type to tour Asia.[80]
Conference paper, [from] Australian Print Symposium. Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 1987 – ongoing
"The first National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Art Award was held in 1993... second award was staged in 1994 ... the third Award was in 1996. The fourth, now called the National Indigenous Heritage Award, was held in April 1998." -- inside cover
Many of the artists who played crucial roles in the founding of the art centre were aware of the increasing interest in Aboriginal art during the 1970s and had watched with concern and curiosity the developments of the art movement at Papunya amongst people to whom they were closely related. There was also a growing private market for Aboriginal art in Alice Springs. Artists' experiences of the private market were marked by feelings of frustration and a sense of disempowerment when buyers refused to pay prices which reflected the value of theJukurrpa or showed little interest in understanding the story.
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