Papunya Paintings

Papunya Tula Art Movement

The Papunya Tula Art Movement began in 1971 when Geoffrey Bardon, a school teacher in the Western Desert, encouraged some of the men to paint a blank school wall. The murals sparked off tremendous interest in the community and soon many men started painting. In 1972 the artists successfully established their own company.

The work of the Papunya Tula artists is highly regarded. The high standard of the work and its unmistakable and powerful style has resulted in the Papunya Tula artists being represented in most public galleries, major museums, institutions and many large private collections within Australia as well as overseas.

The company is entirely owned and directed by traditional Aboriginal people from the Western Desert, predominantly of the Luritja/Pintupi language groups. It has 49 shareholders and now represents around 120 artists.

The aim of the company is to promote individual artists, provide economic development for the communities to which they belong, and assist in the maintenance of a rich cultural heritage.

The Papunya Tula painting style derives directly from the artists' knowledge of traditional body and sand painting associated with ceremony. To portray these dreamtime creation stories for the public, has required the removal of sacred symbols and the careful monitoring of ancestral designs.

The Centralian and Western Desert Aboriginals are unique in their representation of mythological Dreamtime beings and events in ground painting and body designs. These paintings are examples of this ancient yet living tradition depicted in modern media.

Grok has a collection of Papunya paintings priced from $500.