QUEENIE MCKENZIE - HILLS OF TEXAS STATION - WHITE GHOST GUMS
QUEENIE MCKENZIE
HILLS OF TEXAS STATION - WHITE GHOST GUMS, 1995
150 x 110 cm frame: 153 x 113 cm
natural earth pigment on canvas
REGION
Kimberley, WA
PROVENANCE
Painted at the Pensioner Unit, WA
Neil Mcleod Fine Art, Vic
Private Collection, Vic
STORY
Queenie McKenzie earned world wide acclaim with distinct and influential artworks such as this striking example of the artist's style. It depicts Old Texas Station where men would collect white quartz used for spear heads. The rocky hills are seen as separate forms on the edge of the desert plain in the country of her childhood and early working life.
She died in 1998, the year the Warmun art centre was formerly established. In 1995, the year this work was painted, she worked in the pensioner unit where she lived with Rover Thomas and his wife Rita. Here she painted the majority of her major works for entrepreneurs who visited the community from time to time.
In an interview towards the end of her life she reminded us that the only word she had ever learnt to read and write was her own name, as it was required to sign her paintings. Yet she was, in her lifetime and is still to this day, recognised as a spiritual and cultural icon, whose commitment to art has left an indelible impact on Australian history and culture.
EXHIBITED
"That's True that's Creation", August 2022, Cooee Art | Redfern
ARTIST PROFILE
