Johnny Warangula Tjupurrula, , 1971.
The Origin of the Contemporary Aboriginal Art Movement: A Pioneering Work by Johnny Warangula Tjupurrula
Discover a foundational work from the genesis of the contemporary Aboriginal art movement.
Overview
Created in 1971, the first year of the Papunya painting movement, this iconic work by Johnny Warangula Tjupurrula marks the moment when 65,000 years of ceremonial knowledge was first translated onto portable surfaces. Warangula was among the founding members who began painting at Papunya in 1971, a moment now recognized as the birth of the contemporary Indigenous Australian art movement. The sinuous lines depict water and lightning associated with Winpa, the ancestral Lightning Man, who summoned a catastrophic storm at Kalipinypa.
Painted with house paint on a salvaged piece of composition board, this early work by Warangula reveals designs that continue to be painted onto the body for ceremony. This painting connects directly to the origins of what is now celebrated as one of the most significant art movements of the twenty-first century.
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