BORN c 1940
LANGUAGE GROUP: ANMATYERRE/ ALYAWARRE
REGION: UTOPIA- NORTHERN TERRITORY
View KATHLEEN PETYARRE’S artwork here
Born at Atnagkere on Utopia, (150 miles north-east of Alice Springs) around 1940, Kathleen Petyarre originally worked in batik, and then took up painting on canvas as part of the CAAMA’s Summer Project in 1988-89.
Her art directly refers to her country and her Dreamings, including Women Hunting, Emu, Dingo Dreaming and her signature painting of the Mountain Devil Lizard Dreaming.
Her art is minimalist, done in a layering technique with very intricate dotting.
Kathleen Petyarre is one of the most sought-after living Aboriginal artists. She has been repeatedly nominated by the influential journal Australian Art Collector as being among ‘the 50 most collectable artists in Australia’.
Kathleen has several sisters all of whom are well-known artists, among them Gloria Petyarre, Violet Petyarre, Myrtle Petyarre and Jeannie Petyarre.
However it is Kathleen’s works that consistently show the highest degree of innovation and are in the greatest demand.
Her considerable reputation as one of the most original indigenous artists has since been confirmed nationally and internationally by her regular inclusion in exhibitions at the most reputed museums and galleries.
A book about her art, ‘ ‘Genius of Place’ ‘, was published in 2001 in conjunction with a solo exhibition of her works at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, and her paintings can be found in public and private collections all over the world.
Her work has been selected, along with just a handful of Aboriginal artists, for inclusion in the permanent collection of the new Mus’e du quai Branly in Paris.
Record price to date: $47,800 at Christies Melbourne 2005, for My Country – Hailstorm, 1998, 183x183cm.