Ningura Napurrula
- Skin Name:Napurrula
- Language:Pintupi
- Region:Kintore, Western Desert
- Dreaming:Ancestral stories
Artist has Passed Away
1938-2013
Out of respect for Aboriginal culture Central Art has removed the artist's photograph.
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Biography
Ningura Napurrula Gibson was born c. 1938 at Watulka in Western Australia, south of Kiwirrkurra Aboriginal community. Ningura Napurrula moved to Papunya in the early days of the settlement with her husband Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi,(passed away), who was a highly respected Pintupi elder who held significant knowledge of his countries Dreaming stories. In 1996 she was part of a group of elderly women from Kintore and Kiwirrkura who began painting for Papunya Tula Artists in their own right. Characteristic of her work is a strong dynamism and rich linear design-compositions created with heavy layers of Acrylic paint.
Ningura Napurrula participated in an initial Papunya Tula Artists exhibition in 1996 and she has been featured in several group shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin in 1999. She had her first solo exhibition with William Mora Aboriginal Art in 2000, and participated in the impressive Kintore Women's Painting for the Papunya Tula retrospective at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Ningura Napurrula was part of the original group of the higher-ranking women from “Kintore” and “Kiwirrkurra” who began painting for the Papunya Tula Artists which founded the Aboriginal Art Movement in 1971.
Ningura Napurrula work is described as dynamic, abounding strong lines with powerful colour and composition. Ningura is one of the most important and Australia's most collectable artists (Australian Art Collector no. 37) represented in Europe’s most important public museum Musée du quai Branly in Paris and Australian National galleries. Commissioned for Musée du quai Branly ceiling as one of the world famous Michelangelo Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Ningura Napurrula signature work is superimposed eternally on the ceiling of the Paris museum's building "Musée du quai Branly" for the future generations to appreciate it.
Sadly, Ningura is unwell and almost blind. Her work is in very high demand by international as well as Australian collectors. She has exhibited extensively within Australia and around the world.
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Bibliography
- Geoffrey Bardon ; Ryan, Judith; Pizzi, Gabrielle; Stanhope, Zara., Mythology and Reality - Contemporary Aboriginal Desert Art from the Gabrielle Pizzi Collection, Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2004.
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Collections
- Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France
- National Gallery of Australia - Canberra, Australia
- Art Gallery of New South Wales - Sydney, Australia
- National Gallery of Victoria - Melbourne, Australia
- Queensland National Art Gallery - Brisbane , Australia
- Museum & Art Gallery Northern Territory Darwin , Australia
- Alice Springs Art Price Collection , Alice Springs, Central Australia
- Australian Tourism collection, Adelaide, Australia
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation Collection, Australia
- Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Collection , Canberra, Australia,
- Architecture Australia magazine, Australia
- Aborigena at the Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, Italy; Australian Contemporary Aboriginal Art in Prague, Toskansky Place Prague, Czech Republic; Masterpieces from the Western Desert, Gavin Graham Gallery London, United Kingdom
- HOOD Museum of Art, The Palace of Japan (Tokyo), The Harold Mitchell Foundation and the Australia Council; Art Bank, Sydney; National Museum of Women in the Arts Washington
- The Palace of Japan Tokyo, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
- Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, National Museum of Australia, Homes a Court Collection, Perth, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, HOOD Museum of Art Hanover, The Harold Mitchell Foundation, Kelton Foundation USA, Gavin Graham Gallery London, Donald Kahn Collection USA
- Architecture Australia magazine, Aborigena the Palazzo Bricherasio Turin Italy, Australian Contemporary Aboriginal Art Prague, Toskansky Place Prague, Alice Springs Art Price Collection
- Australian Tourism collection Adelaide, Australian Broadcasting Corporation Collection
- Australia Council collection, Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2004, Australian Institute Aboriginal Collection Canberra
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Exhibitions
- 2000 - William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Gabrielle Pizzie Melbourne; Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of NSW .
- 2006 - Paris, Musee du Quai Branly.
- 2005 - Papunya Tula Artists, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne.
- 2004 - Mythology and Reality - Contemporary Aboriginal Desert Art from the Gabrielle Pizzi Collection, Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne; Peintres Pintupi, Galerie DAD, Mantes-la-Jolie, France.
- 2003 - Glen Eira City; Mason Gallery at Japingka WA; Gabriella Pizzi, Melbourne; Australian Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Toskansky Place, Prague, Czech Republic; Masterpieces from the Western Desert, Gavin Gallery, London, UK.
- 2002 - Araluen Art Centre.
- 2001 - Telstra Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory; Pintupi, Alice Springs; Aborigena, Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, Italy.
- 1999 - Utopia Art Sydney.
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Awards
- 2002 - Alice Prize, highly recommended.
- 2001 - Finalist 18th Telstra Art Award, Australian National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Telstra Award,
- 2002 Australian Post - the Stamps Ningura Napurrula (Pintupi)
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Aboriginal word glossary
