Aboriginal Art from Ntaria. Landscapes by members of the Hermannsburg School
In Hermannsburg, a small mission that is situated 115 km south west of Alice Springs, the first centre for modern indigenous art was established in Australia.
When the English landscape painter Rex Battarbee visited the mission in 1934, the artist was guided by the Aranda Albert Namatjira to see exceptionally beautiful places in the desert. Namatjira witnessed him painting in watercolours and thereafter tried to paint himself.
- Exhibition Site GRASSI Museum Leipzig
- DATES 31/08/2013—23/03/2014
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He was the first Aborigine to who became famous and noted as an indigenous artist. Watercolour painting has been the privilege of the Namatjira clan and became known as the ”Aranda School of Painting”. It follows traditions of European landscape painting, yet colour scheme and subject are typical of Australia – eucalyptus trees, rocks and purple colours of the sky.
[Translate to English:] Bild
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The exhibition shows the collection of Hermannsburg artists from the holdings of the GRASSI Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig (GRASSI Ethnographical Museum in Leipzig) the only collection of this painting in Germany. The artists, who belong to the ethnic group of the Aranda, show in 20 small-sized landscape paintings their strong connection to their land. The acryl and watercolour works are complemented by photographs that depict the landscape around Hermannsburg as well as by selected ethnographic objects, books and ceramics.
