Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • Contact Us
  • Podcast
  • Newsletter
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • AMMpro

Aboriginals at the Met

December 21, 2009 by Marion Maneker

A show of contemporary Aboriginal art opens at the Met in New York tomorrow. The Wall Street Journal‘s Candace Jackson gives some background on history of this hidden genre:

Several of the pieces in the Met’s installation are done with abstract dot-patterns, representing landscapes seen from an aerial perspective. Others are meant to represent “dreaming stories,” or aboriginal myths and legends, says Eric Kjellgren, the Met’s curator of Oceanic Art. One striking painting, “Bush Fire Dreaming” by Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, features a series of black and white stripes covering the entire canvas, which Kjellgren says tells the story of a father who set a fire to teach his children a lesson when they hunted a kangaroo and didn’t share the meat with their family.

Although a few of the Aboriginal Australians are now full-time artists, some still hold other jobs in their communities, says Kjellgren. None had formal training when they began painting. Though art is traditionally made by older people in Aboriginal communities, he says, the youngest painter included in the Met’s installation is Daniel Waldibi, 26.

Aboriginal artists live in some of the most remot corners of Australia, including the sparsely populated central desert region. Kjellgren says that although most of the contemporary art world’s big names today come from urban areas, “there really is this very lively form of contemporary art that’s going on in a very different context.”

Aboriginal art in its contemporary form began in the early 1970s, when white schoolteacher Geoffrey Bardon befriended some Aboriginals and supplied them with materials to make the art. Kjellgren says many of the artists and paintings included in the show are well-known in Australia but “it still has not received broad attention.”

Contemporary Aboriginal Artwork Makes its Debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Speakeasy/WSJ)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Urban Aboriginals Make Art TooUrban Aboriginals Make Art Too
  • Aboriginal Art Finds New Fans in ChinaAboriginal Art Finds New Fans in China
  • Country v. City in Aboriginal ArtCountry v. City in Aboriginal Art
  • Revolutionaries for AboriginesRevolutionaries for Aborigines
  • Understanding Aboriginal ArtUnderstanding Aboriginal Art
  • Four Phases of Aboriginal ArtFour Phases of Aboriginal Art
  • Print
  • Tweet

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Aboriginal

Advertise on Art Market Monitor with Nectar Ads

Top Posts

  • Bonhams Brings Second Generation of Modern Vietnamese Art in Hong Kong
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • David Hockney's $20m Pacific Coast Highway & Santa Monica
  • Artelligence Podcast: Pamela Joyner on Collecting Abstract Art by African-American Artists
  • Man Ray's Noire et Blanche (€1-1.5m) Offered at Christie's France in November
  • Sotheby's Pulls in a $9m David Hockney for November
  • Peploe Leads Scottish Colourists at Lyon & Turnbull
  • Why I Am Leaving Gagosian
  • Christie's Announces $70m Picasso Self Portrait
  • Mapping a Career in the Art World


  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • Art Loans
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Advertise on Art Market Monitor