Albert Namatjira's Artistic Heritage

Extract from ABC News

By Shuba Krishnan
Posted about 7 hours ago

 Photo: Granddaughter of Albert Namatjira, Gloria Panka is continuing his artistic tradition. (ABC News: Shuba Krishnan)

Rodney Matuschka peels back the framed painting by Albert Namatjira — worth an estimated $30,000 — and runs his fingers along the frame where insects have been boring into the canvas.
"Look at where the painting meets the frame, you can see it's coming away," he says.
"You can see that there's evidence of insects here and dust and that's getting into the back of the painting there."
Mr Matuschka is the site manager at the Hermannsburg Historical Precinct, a National Heritage site built in the 1880s.
Namatjira grew up in Hermannsburg at the Lutheran Mission and the surrounding MacDonnell Ranges were often the main subjects of his paintings.
One of the buildings at the Historical Precinct, once a house for the missionaries and their families, has become a makeshift gallery housing more than 70 watercolour works of Namatjira and his relatives.

The birthplace of modern Aboriginal art

Two original Namatjira paintings hanging in the Namatjira Room are valued at $30,000 to $40,000.
Mr Matuschka says the collection was significant in Australian art history.
"The collection as a whole is really the birth of Aboriginal art, other than the art that they did themselves in rock," he says.
"I guess it was the birth place of modern Aboriginal art."
 
 Photo: Albert Namatjira became a household name in the 1940s and 1950s. (Supplied: Joan Woodard)

Mr Matuschka said the paintings are badly deteriorating and are in desperate need of restoration.
With no temperature control, he said the building is not suitable to house paintings.
The paintings are also cased in old, cheap pine frames and are gathering dust, he says.
"The artwork needs cleaning, restoration and framing ... It would be really sad if a collection like this was lost," Mr Matuschka says.
"These paintings are quite wonderful and here they are in a condition that isn't conducive to their survival."
Namatjira was born in 1902 and from an early age he showed an interest in painting, a talent he later developed under the tutelage of a visiting Melbourne artist Rex Battarbee.
Battarbee encouraged Namatjira to pursue a painting career and before long his distinct style — a coupling of popular Western watercolours with his innate ability to capture his country — began turning heads.
Though he travelled often, home was always the Central Australian desert.

Family members protect Namatjira's legacy

It has been around 70 years since his art first captivated the country.
At the height of his success Namatjira had sold out art exhibitions, with his paintings fetching prices he could hardly imagine and earning praise from the Queen.
The 1940s and 1950s saw Namatjira become a household name, with reproductions of his works hung in homes throughout the nation.
But in recent years his unique style of water colour landscape painting have lost ground to dot painting and more contemporary styles.
Iris Bendor manages the Many Hands Art Centre — Namatjira's relatives are directors of the company — and its aim is to continue the Namatjira legacy.

'Important the artistic tradition is transferred to younger generation'

Ms Bendor says Namatjira's relatives were trying to preserve his unique style of painting.

"I would say that we are the only art centre in the world that paints with this tradition, with this style of painting," she says.

"There are probably around 15 artists here at the art centre and I think that most watercolour artists that paint in the traditional Namatjira style do live in Central Australia."
She says with an ageing of Namatjira's descendants the focus has to shift to the younger generation if the unique art form is to survive.
"There are some key artists like Gloria Panka, Lenie Namatjira, who are direct grandchildren of Namatijira, and Ivy Pareroultja, who is the daughter of one of the three Pareroultja brothers, and they continue to paint," she says.
"But they are in their 60s, and there are not many young people that are painting in this style.
"It's very important for the artists that this tradition is transferred to the younger generation and we're taking steps to do that, but our capacity unfortunately is limited."

Restoring the originals

In Hermannsburg, Mr Matuschka says he needs funding to restore the original works to ensure they survive for future generations of artists to take inspiration from.
Mr Matuschka is applying for restoration grants, but estimates he will need $40,000 to $50,000 to restore the collection.
"Through the National Library of Australia there is money available for the restoration and reframing of art collections, but the amount of money that you can actually tap into at any given time is relatively small," he says.
"I believe the figure is around $15,000."
 
Photo: Artist Gloria Panka works on a canvas at the Many Hands Art Centre, home to the Namatjira watercolour artists. (Supplied: Many Hands Art Centre)

Mr Matuschka says the restoration would also help promote the old historical town of Hermannsburg to tourists.
"I guess they're drawn initially by the heritage historic nature of the place, but they are also drawn by the fact that they're familiar with Albert Namatjira," he says.
"So for us this collection is a major part of what people are here to see and that makes it doubly important to look after," he says.