Albert (Elea) Namatjira

Albert Namatjira - Australia's most famous ABORIGINAL ARTIST. (2020, November 26).
Retrieved April 13, 2021, from https://manyhandsart.com.au/about/albert-namatjira/

The Heavitree Gap from his Ngurratjuta Collection, is a watercolor painted by

Albert Namatjira between 1949 and 1954. Many artists have painted this sacred area in
the Northern Territory of Australia. Born Elea Namatjira, in Alice Springs also known as
Hermannsburg, Australia, Albert’s family converted to Christianity when he was a young
boy. He attended Hermannsburg Mission School and lived in an all boys dormitory
away from his family.
Namatjira began to sketch what he saw around him at a young age. He drew the
scenes around him like the cattle yards and other familiar scenes. The Arrente people
were familiar with art that depicted biblical scenes, but not art that showed the local
scenes and landscapes. When Namatjira was older he traveled as a guide with Rex
Batterbee who taught him how to paint while they toured around Australia.
Namatjira became famous for his watercolor desert like landscapes. He taught
art at Finke River Aboriginal Mission Art School. Other famous works are Ghost Gum,
Glen Helen, and Mount Sunder. He produced over 2,000 paintings in his lifetime. He
was criticized for his watercolor landscapes, viewing his work as acculturation and
betraying his tribal traditions. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth’s II Coronation
Medal in 1953 and became an honorary member of the Royal Art Society of New South
Wales in 1955. His paintings have been depicted on several postage stamps.
Namatjira did not invent the watercolor technique, but it was a different technique
from the Aboriginal art that he was surrounded by. The Aranda Arts council tried to
prevent his family from building a home in their territory. Even though Namatjira had
earned fame and fortune, he often lived in poverty because he gave most of his
earnings to his family. Eventually he was one of the first indigenous people granted
citizenship. His artwork is significant because of subjects of his paintings. Traditional
aboriginal artwork was of symbols and patterns, while Namatjira painted realistic
landscape scenes. His art is still important today because it tells the story of a person
of color and his story to be recognized as an artist to the white people of Australia and
to the rest of the world and influenced changes in the unjust racial laws of the country.
His influence lives on through a community cultural development project in a stage
production of Namajtira’s life. The production raises awareness and funds for the next
generation of artists.

 
Works Cited

Albert Namatjira. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2021, from http://www.artnet.com/artists/albert-

namatjira/

Australian dictionary of Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2021, from https://adb.anu.edu.au/
biography/namatjira-albert-elea-11217