Once Upon a Time in Papunya

Description

Astronomical auction prices in the late 1990s first drew many people's attention to the phenomenon of the early Papunya boards, the thousand small painted panels created at the remote Northern Territory Aboriginal settlement of Papunya in 1971-72. Western Desert art expert Vivien Johnson looks at the controversies that surrounded the paintings at the time of their creation - and what they mean now to the artists' descendants; the role of teacher Geoffrey Bardon; the depiction of sacred imagery, and the distant worlds of art auctions and international exhibitions. A gripping narrative work, this book is an important intervention in Australian art history.

Vivien Johnson is a global professor at the University of New South Wales, the editor in chief of the Dictionary of Australian Artists On-Line, and the author of Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists. She has been researching Western Desert art for almost 30 years and recently helped the Papunya community establish their own art center, Papunya Tjupi.

Meticulous and subtle, poetic and detailed, this is the ultimate Westerner's account of the magic days in the early 1970s when the desert art movement sprang into full flower. It marks the summit of a life-time's dedicated work." -Nicolas Rothwell, correspondent, Australian "A classic of Australian art history." -John Kean, exhibition producer, Museum Victoria