George Milpurrurru | National Museum of Australia

Gurrumba Gurrumba clan, Ganalbiŋu language, Yirritja moiety

Colour photograph of a man and child sitting on the ground painting. - click to view larger image — George Milpurrurru

1934–1998

In 1993, Milpurrurru was the first Aboriginal artist to be given a retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia.

He was also among the first Aboriginal artists to be selected for the Biennale of Sydney, in 1979, and one of the major contributors to The Aboriginal Memorial (1988).

He participated in several major international exhibitions, including Aratjara, which toured Europe in 1993–94. He had his first solo commercial exhibition in 1985 at the Aboriginal Artists Gallery in Sydney.

In 1986 he and a group of Ganalbiŋu performed a cleansing ceremony as part of the Sydney Biennale.

Paintings in the exhibition

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. It features two horizontal bands of crosshatching at the top of the painting below which is a panel of broad black and yellow vertical stripes. Underneath these are five black human figures and a small sunshaped motif.The lower section of the painting is made up of two yellow arches with two red arches above these and two central tree shapes. There are black human figures enclosed by the arches and beside the tree trunks. The painting has a crosshatched background. - click to view larger image — *Galawu (Stringybark House)*

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. It depicts black, brown and yellow lozenge shapes superimposed on a white, yellow and brown crosshatched background. In the centre of the painting there is a vertical column of thin yellow lines with a solid black section at the top. On the left side of the column is a bird-like feature. - click to view larger image — *Ganalbiŋu Funerary Rites*

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. It depicts five elongated shapes in the upper half, three with black ends, one with red and another with yellow. These are set against two parallel yellow bands. The upper bands have a white circle placed between the second and third shapes from the right. The lower half has five smaller elongated shapes in the same colours with narrower yellow horizontal bands behind them. There is a white circle on each yellow band between the first and the second shape on the left hand side. There is also a small human figure placed between these white circles and another on the left side of the first shape. The background is in slightly diagonal stripes of white and red and white and yellow. The painting has a border of two white lines drawn around it. - click to view larger image — *Raŋga (Ritual Objects) for the Yirritja Flying Fox Dance*

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. It depicts four rows of flying foxes painted in alternate colours of red, yellow, black and brown. The background is painted in a design of leaves and dotted white lines. The painting has a border of two white lines drawn around it. - click to view larger image — *Yirritja Ŋärra Flying Fox Dance*

Valerie Munininy

Mutitjpuy Munuŋgurr

Dick Nguleingulei Murrumurru

Bardayal Nadjamerrek

Najombolmi

From Little Things Big Things Grow

Piinpi: Contemporary Indigenous Fashion

Indigenous

Defining Moments

Donations

All these bark paintings are part of the National Museum of Australia’s collection. © the artist or the artist’s estate, licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency 2013, unless otherwise specified. These images must not be reproduced in any form without permission.

Top