HERMANNSBURG SALON

Some people think Oh! Only dot painting really has meaning. Landscape is only pretty coloured rocks and trees. We only want dot paintings. But these hills have meaning and we have stories too, the landscape artists. We also talk about where the different Dreamings come from, and where they meet up and so on. We have two ways of painting: sand painting and landscapes. For us they both have the same Dreaming story. The landscape painting we do, it shows the country. We don’t just paint anything, that’s not our way. We are inspired by the country and the Dreaming as we paint'  - Jillian Namatjira

Long before desert acrylic dot paintings were first created by the Pintupi men in Papunya, romantic depictions of the desert were painted by the Arrernte people at the tiny Hermannsburg mission in the Northern Territory. These paintings captured the subtleties of colour, as the desert changes from the soft tones of summer heat, to the rich colours of the early morning and late evening light. Fifty years later these images have become synonymous with our vision of the Australian outback.
Albert Namatjira, the founder of the Hermannsburg watercolour painting school, introduced painting to number of Arrernte artists, including his sons Enos and Oscar, as well as the three Pareroultja brothers who joined him on his painting expeditions. This was the first significant transitional art movement to emerge from Aboriginal Australia.
Interestingly, the majority of images of this desert country are painted from a slightly elevated point of view, as if the artist was looking down ever so slightly. The majority of paintings lack a central focal point, whereby the composition is anchored as well as balanced with a visual emphasis on the edges. There is neither a dominance of forms, or a visual hierarchy between them.
This exhibition is made up of selected works from the late 1960’s and 70’s from two private collections. The watercolours highlight the intense connection of these artists to their country and spurs in observers a deep-seated recognition of this country; Australia’s heart beats under each brushstroke.