Yannima Tommy Watson
Yannima Tommy Watson | |
---|---|
Born | Yannima Pikarli 1930s[1][2] Anamarapiti, Western Australia |
Died | November 2017 |
Known for | Painting |
Movement | Contemporary Indigenous Australian art |
Yannima Tommy Watson (1930s – November 2017), 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
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
Watson's first contact with
Art career
Tommy Watson began painting in 2001, and was one of a handful of painters establishing the
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
In 2003 Watson was one of eight Indigenous artists, alongside
In early 2013, 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 2013 selling over $800,000 each. One work, entitled Ngayuku Ngura - Anumara Piti, sold for around $500,000 through Sydney's Piermarq gallery to prominent Sydney businessman Andrew Wise.[15]
In 2014, a major work of 160 x 485 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 2014.[16]
In 2014 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 1984 and 2004.[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. He said, "I want to paint these stories so that others can learn and understand about our culture and country."[2]
Collections
- Art Gallery of New South Wales
- National Gallery of Australia[6]
- National Gallery of Victoria[6]
- Musee du Quai Branly, Paris[13]
- Art Gallery of Western Australia
- South Australian Art Gallery
- Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
- Bega Valley Regional Gallery
- Colin Laverty, Collection
- Patrick Corrigan, Collection[20]
- Auscorp Collection
- Kerry Stokes Collection
Artwork
-
Tommy Watson, painting at Yanda 2013
Notes
- ^ "The Watson, Walkerville: The Artist". www.artserieshotels.com.au. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
- ^ a b c d e "Agathon Galleries". Archived from the original (pdf) on 14 September 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
Born: c1935 at Anamarapiti
- ^ Jeremy, Eccles. "TOMMY WATSON at News Aboriginal Art Directory. View information about TOMMY WATSON". news.aboriginalartdirectory.com. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
- WARAKURNA, WA. Since emerging in 2002, Tommy Watson has arguably become the greatest living painter of the Western Desert page 56
- ^ Grishin, Sasha (18 December 2020). "ANU collection lifts the spirits". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
- ^ ISBN 0-522-85317-X.
- ^ https://www.daao.org.au/bio/tommy-watson/
- ^ "Anumarapiti by Yannima Tommy Watson". Gallery Gondwana. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
- ISBN 9781921394430.
- ISBN 9781921394430.
- ^ 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 1987 pp34-35
- ^ Marie, Geissler. "'Kutju Wara' (The Last One): Yannima Tommy Watson at Agathon Galleries at News Aboriginal Art Directory. View information about 'Kutju Wara' (The Last One): Yannima Tommy Watson at Agathon Galleries". news.aboriginalartdirectory.com. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
- ^ ISBN 0-646-46045-5.
- ^ "tommy watson register | PIERMARQ: Aboriginal Art, Contemporary Art, Art Investment". www.piermarq.com.au. Archived from the original on 16 September 2013.
- ^ "Three-way battle over Western Desert artist Tommy Watson not a pretty picture | The Australian". Archived from the original on 18 November 2013.
- ISBN 9781921556449. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
- ^ Kumurdian, Dijana. "Art Series Hotels to open The Watson in Adelaide". www.vogue.com.au/vogue+living/. Vogue Living Australia. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
- ^ "The Watson, Walkerville: The Watson, Walkerville".
- ^ Judith Ryan Colour Power:Aboriginal Art Post 1984, in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne Vic 2005 p 112
- ^ Patrick Corrigan (businessman)