| ISBN |
9781921953163 (paperback) |
| Title |
Old masters : Australia's great bark artists. |
| Publisher and/or associated date/s |
Canberra : National Museum of Australia, 2013. |
| Description |
239 pages : chiefly colour illustrations, portraits (some colour); 31 cm. |
| Contents |
Foreword / Wang Chunfa, Mathew Trinca -- Introduction / Wally Caruana -- Essays : The shapes of things in central Arnhem Land bark painting / Wally Caruana -- Expressiveness in western Arnhem Land bark painting / Luke Taylor -- Abstraction in Arnhem Land bark painting / Howard Morphy -- A curatorial reflection : Dancing lines -- a performative approach to Old Masters / Alisa Duff -- Identity -- Western Arnhem Land : Yirawala; School of Yirawala; Figures in the landscape; Dynamic figures; Nganmirra family -- Eastern Arnhem Land: Narritjin; Gumana and Yunupingu; Mutitjpuy; Marika Family; Mithinarri; Abstraction; Makassar -- Central Arnhem Land: Dawidi; Djan'kawu; Malangi; Milpurrurru; Portraits -- The Old Masters -- Index of artists to works -- Reading bark paintings -- Notes -- Map of Arnhem Land. |
| Summary |
Bark painting, as practised by Aboriginal artists of Arnhem Land for millennia, is one of the great traditions of world art. -- Yet it was only recognised as such late in the 20th century. -- Old Masters: Australia’s Great Bark Artists highlights the work of 45 master painters who have carried one of the oldest continuing traditions of art into the modern era. -- Old Masters features the paintings of Narritjin Maymuru, Yirawala, Mawalan Marika and David Malangi and their contemporaries. -- These men of high ritual standing were not only artists, but also ceremonial and clan leaders, philosophers, advocates for land rights and human rights, ambassadors and politicians, who recognised the power of art as the most eloquent means to build bridges between Aboriginal and European society. -- The book includes essays by renowned scholars of Aboriginal art, biographies and portraits of the artists, and 121 full-colour plates of the paintings, made between 1948 and 1985, from the National Museum of Australia’s rich and extensive collection. |
| Subjects |
Bark painting -- Australia -- Exhibitions |
| Artists, Aboriginal Australian -- Exhibitions |
| Painting, Aboriginal Australian -- Exhibitions |
| Other Authors &/or Associated Persons |
Duff, Alisa (curator) |
| Stolte, Gretchen Marie (curator) |
| Kaus, David (curator) |
| Greenslade, Andy (curator) |
| Fitzpatrick, Samuel (curator) |
| Other Corporate Bodies |
National Museum of Australia |
| Call number |
NMA G 2013 |
| NMA 2013 |
