Yannima tommy watson biography samples

Yannima Tommy Watson

Pitjantjatjara-speaking Indigenous Australian artist (–)

Yannima Tommy Watson (s – November ), known as Tommy Watson, was an Indigenous Australian artist, of the Pitjantjatjara people from Australia's central western desert. He was described by one critic as "the greatest living painter of the Western Desert".[4]

Early life

Tommy Yannima Pikarli Watson was a senior Pitjantjatara elder and law man of the Karima skin group.[5] He was born around in Anumarapiti, 75 kilometres (47&#;mi) west of Irrunytju,[6][7] also known as Wingellina, in Western Australia, near the junction of its border with the Northern Territory and South Australia.

His given names of Yannima and Pikarli relate to specific sites near Anumarapiti.[8]

Watson's mother died during his infancy, and his father when he was about eight years old. He subsequently went to live with his father's brother, who himself died two years later. Tommy was then adopted by Nicodemus Watson, his father's first cousin.

It was at this point that he went to live at Ernabella Mission, and adopted the surname Watson in addition to his Aboriginal birth name, thus becoming Tommy Yannima Pikarli Watson.[9]

Nicodemus Watson became a strong father figure. Together they travelled widely, and Watson learned the traditional skills required to lead a nomadic existence in the desert, including the fashioning of tools and weapons from trees using burning coals, how and what to hunt, and how and where to find water.

Under Nicodemus Watson's guidance, Watson learned about nature and his people's ancestral stories, collectively known to the Aboriginal peoples of Australia as Tjukurrpa.[2]

Watson's first contact with white Australians was at the Ernabella Mission in South Australia, which opened in After a short time at Ernabella, he returned to his community to be initiated.

Tommy Watson's upbringing is similar to that of many Indigenous people born around the same time, from that point forward living a traditional nomadic existence until his early teens and then working as a stockman and labourer.

Yannima tommy watson biography samples free Artwork [ edit ]. When they were alive, they would take me around the country, when I was a kid. Importantly, no iconographic form or colour that might give insight into ritual knowledge is used. Biography - Tommy Yannima Watson.

During his time working at Papunya he met the school teacher Geoffrey Bardon, who was pivotal in supporting the developing Aboriginal art movement at the Papunya Tula art centre.[10]

Art career

Tommy Watson began painting in , and was one of a handful of painters establishing the Irrunytju community art centre in [2]

Watson's work has received critical acclaim, both within Australia and internationally, with art critics drawing parallels between Watson and Western Abstract painters such as Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Kasimir Malevich, Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman.[11] John MacDonald wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald that Watson "is a master of invention and arguably the outstanding painter of the Western Desert", going on to compare his use of colour to Henri Matisse.[12]

In Watson was one of eight Indigenous artists, alongside Paddy Bedford, John Mawurndjul, Ningura Napurrula, Lena Nyadbi, Michael Riley, Judy Watson and Gulumbu Yunupingu, who collaborated on a commission to provide works that decorate one of the Musée du quai Branly's four buildings completed in [13]

In early , Watson moved to live with family in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

Following an improvement in his health he resumed painting, producing large works up to five meters long. Until the end of his life he was represented commercially by Yanda Aboriginal Art and Piermarq,[14] with large canvases produced at Yanda Aboriginal Art in selling over $, each. One work, entitled Ngayuku Ngura - Anumara Piti, sold for around $, through Sydney's Piermarq gallery to prominent Sydney businessman Andrew Wise.[15]

In , a major work of x &#;cm by Tommy Watson was exhibited at The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), one of the world's most prestigious art fairs.

Watson's work was also on display as part of a group exhibition of First Contact Western Desert Masters also featuring Naata Nungurrayi, Esther Giles Nampitjinpa, and George Hairbrush Tjungurrayi at the Piermarq gallery in Sydney in June–July [16]

In the Art Series Hotel Group named Watson as the first Indigenous artist to feature in the collection.[17] Located in Adelaide, his namesake hotel The Watson features a collection of high-quality reproduction prints.[18]

Style

Tommy Watson was known for his use of strong vibrant colours, that symbolically represented the ancestral stories of his country.

Judith Ryan, Senior Curator of Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Victoria, has described Watson's colour as "incandescent". Watson's understanding of Australia's physical environment and its relationship with the ancestral stories came to form the central element of his paintings.[2] Watson created his works on premium Belgian linen and favoured Ara Acrylic paint, created by the Gerrit Rietveld Academie.

Tommy has been associated with the 'Colour Power' movement that developed within the Indigenous art scene between and [19]

Watson himself stated that his art is an exploration of traditional Aboriginal culture, in which the land and spirituality are intertwined and communicated through stories passed on from generation to generation.

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    • He said, "I want to paint these stories so that others can learn and understand about our culture and country."[2]

    Collections

    Artwork

    • Tommy Watson, painting at Yanda

    Notes

    1. ^"The Watson, Walkerville: The Artist".

      . Retrieved 18 August

    2. ^ abcde"Agathon Galleries". Archived from the original(pdf) on 14 September Retrieved 21 November
    3. ^Jeremy, Eccles.

      Yannima tommy watson biography samples images Watson's first contact with white Australians was at the Ernabella Mission in South Australia, which opened in Listing 1 Works Viewing 1 - 1. ISBN X. A powerful statement of title to land, is distinguished by a stunning colourful abstraction where the celebration of country and Tommy's relation to it is generated using bright layers of thickly applied acrylic paint.

      "TOMMY WATSON at News Aboriginal Art Directory. View information about TOMMY WATSON". . Retrieved 18 August

    4. ^John McDonald (24 November ). "The Australian Way - December - Art"(PDF). Qantas. Retrieved 21 November page 56
    5. ^Grishin, Sasha (18 December ).

      "ANU collection lifts the spirits". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 29 September

    6. ^ abcMcCulloch, Alan; Susan McCulloch; Emily McCulloch Childs (). The new McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. Fitzroy, VIC: Aus Art Editions in association with The Miegunyah Press.

      p.&#; ISBN&#;.

    7. ^"Tommy Watson b. c". .
    8. ^"Anumarapiti by Yannima Tommy Watson". Gallery Gondwana.

      Tommy watson football Together they travelled widely, and Watson learned the traditional skills required to lead a nomadic existence in the desert, including the fashioning of tools and weapons from trees using burning coals, how and what to hunt, and how and where to find water. Tommy first met white people at Ernabella Mission in the s, then moved to a life in the bush until adult years when he worked as a stockman and labourer on cattle stations. During these years in the bush, he learned the skills he needed to live off and nuture the land and it was during this time his love of Country and his deep knowledge was ingrained. Tommy Yannima Watson was a senior Pitjantjatara artist, born circa in desert country west of Irrunytju, or Wingellina, in Western Australia.

      Retrieved 29 September

    9. ^McGregor, Ken; Geissler, Marie (). Yannima Pikarli Tommy Watson (Bilingual&#;ed.). Macmillan Art Publishing. p.&#;7. ISBN&#;.
    10. ^McGregor, Ken; Geissler, Marie (). Yannima Pikarli Tommy Watson (Bilingual&#;ed.). Macmillan Art Publishing. p.&#; ISBN&#;.
    11. ^Maurcice Tuchman 'Hidden Meaning in Abstract Art ' in Edward Weisberger The Spiritual in Abstract Art , Los Angeles County Museum California and Abbeville Press inc New York pp
    12. ^Marie, Geissler.

      "'Kutju Wara' (The Last One): Yannima Tommy Watson at Agathon Galleries at News Aboriginal Art Directory.

    13. Yannima tommy watson biography samples youtube
    14. Yannima tommy watson biography samples pdf
    15. Yannima tommy watson biography samples list

      16. View information about 'Kutju Wara' (The Last One): Yannima Tommy Watson at Agathon Galleries". . Retrieved 18 August

    16. ^ abClaire Armstrong, ed. (). Australian Indigenous Art Commission: Musee du quai Branly. Eleonora Triguboff, Art & Australia, and Australia Council for the Arts.

      ISBN&#;.

    17. ^"tommy watson register | PIERMARQ: Aboriginal Art, Contemporary Art, Art Investment". .

      Yannima tommy watson biography samples Statistics Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website. Retrieved 18 August During these years in the bush, he learned the skills he needed to live off and nuture the land and it was during this time his love of Country and his deep knowledge was ingrained. Tommy Watson's upbringing is similar to that of many Indigenous people born around the same time, from that point forward living a traditional nomadic existence until his early teens and then working as a stockman and labourer.

      Archived from the original on 16 September

    18. ^"Three-way battle over Western Desert artist Tommy Watson not a pretty picture | The Australian". Archived from the original on 18 November
    19. ^Newstead, Adrian (). The Dealer is the Devil: An Insiders History of the Aboriginal Art Trade.

      Brandl & Schlesinger. p.&#; ISBN&#;. Retrieved 18 August

    20. ^Kumurdian, Dijana. "Art Series Hotels to open The Watson in Adelaide".

      Yannima tommy watson biography samples youtube: Style [ edit ]. Contemporary Indigenous Australian art. Tommy first met white people at Ernabella Mission in the s, then moved to a life in the bush until adult years when he worked as a stockman and labourer on cattle stations. Watson worked various jobs, including as a stockman, before beginning his artistic career in the early s at the age of

      +living/. Vogue Living Australia. Retrieved 30 January

    21. ^"The Watson, Walkerville: The Watson, Walkerville".
    22. ^Judith Ryan Colour Power:Aboriginal Art Post , in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne Vic p
    23. ^Patrick Corrigan (businessman)

    External links