Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula was an Australian visual artist. During the 1980’s Johnny became a major force in the Papunya movement, receiving great critical acclaim for his contribution to the recognition of Papunya artists as a mirror for the identification of indigenous culture.
Background
Ethnicity:
Johnny told me his mother was of mixed Luritja/Warlpiri/Pintupi descent and his father was Luritja/Warlpiri.
Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula was born in 1925 at Minjilpirri, in the Western Desert of Australia. It is located south of Lake Mackay and Northwest of Ilpilli. His childhood was very traditional, not seeing a European person for many years, and when he did he was terrified and thought it was the devil. In the 1950’s his family relocated to Hermannsburg Community, a small Catholic mission established approximately one hour out of Alice Springs. Whilst at Hermannsburg he went through the appropriate initiations and Aboriginal law ceremonies to become a man.
Education
Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula received no formal western schooling, which was common for many Aboriginal families at the time.
Career
In his youth Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula worked as a laborer, digging the foundation for the Alice Springs Airport and then later moving to Haasts Bluff to continue his laboring work and building roads to Mount Liebig, Yuendumu, and Mount Wedge. He was only ever paid in the form of “tucker”, foods such as fruit, vegetables, sugar, tea, and tobacco.
In 1954 when the Queen visited the country, Johnny and Nosepeg Tjupurrula were chosen as Aboriginal representatives to meet the monarch. Then in 1960 he relocated his family from Haasts Bluff to Papunya, as the new Aboriginal settlement was built. He became a key community figure at Papunya serving on the community council with Mick Namarai, Kingsley Tjungurrayi, and Limpi Tjapangati – all well know and key figures in the Papunya Art movement. When he met a teacher, Geoffrey Bardon, and was included into modern mediums of art an explosion of talent and artist creation occurred resulting in the historic Western Desert art movement. Johnny’s paintings were labeled as “tremendous illusions” by Geoffrey Bardon.
The primary focus of his paintings was centered on Water Dreaming as well as Yam, Fire, and Egret, from around Nyilppi and Nyalpilala – his father’s Dreamings. Through the 1970’s and 1980’s, he was one of the leading western desert artists. His artworks are highly collectible with the Aboriginal Indigenous Art Market placing his paintings within the Top 10 artists of all time.
In 1984, The Sydney Morning Herald published a photograph of the Director of the Australian National Gallery, James Mollison, next to a work by Johnny Warrangkula. James Mollison declared the work of Papunya Artists to be "the finest abstract art ever produced in this country." He then became known as the “Big J.W.” His artworks have sold of record prices with a painting from 1976 titled “Water Dreaming at Kilpinypa” selling for $206,000 and another from 2000 selling at Sotheby’s Auction House for $486,000. At the time that was a world record for an Aboriginal painting.
Between the late 1980’s and the mid-1990’s Johnny produced minimal artworks due to failing eyesight from Trachoma. He received treatment which was successful in rejuvenating his career and enthusiasm for painting. He was driven by his desire to record his stories for future generations as well as support his extended family.
His paintings depicted Dreamings of waterholes at sacred locations such as Kampurarrnga, Kalilpilpa, and Ilpilli, where he was a traditional owner. His canvases were painted with over-dotting in several layers and his design was very free-flowing making his paintings very recognizable. His paintings encompassed different meanings with each layer of paint. They present important historical records, physical places, mythological events, and ceremonies.
In his later years and until his death in 2001, Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula lived in Alice Springs with his wife, Gladys Napanangka and his children, eight daughters and two sons. He was a wonderful artist and a true preserver of his culture and heritage. He led the way for not only his peers at the time but for future generations. Johnny’s artworks can be found in some of the most prestigious art collections around Australia and overseas. His works were included in many exhibitions around the world from 1977 and even today.
Johnny was indeed a significant artist who in some sense retained an authenticity and timeless importance in his work that some of the younger painters were yet to achieve. In 1954 he was chosen to be one of two Aboriginals presented to Queen Elizabeth II when she was visiting Australia. In the 1980's he emerged as the most successful artist in the colony, earning up to $10,000 a picture. One of his paintings, ''Water Dreaming at Kalipinya'', was sold at a Sotheby's auction in Melbourne for $263,145, setting a record for any Aboriginal work of art.
Johnny has always adhered to the idea that his paintings are stories - Aboriginal stories. He has never allowed any infiltration of European influence and rarely uses literal depictions of objects.
Quotations:
"I come from the bush. We don't know money."
Membership
Mr. Tjupurrula belonged to a group of Aborigines living in a government settlement at Papunya who in the early 1970's began doing semiabstract paintings of great strength and originality, using symbols drawn from their secret religious beliefs and ceremonies known as Dreamings.
Personality
Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula was an alcoholic. He was also described as a basically happy man with a slight stutter.
Physical Characteristics:
He lost three fingers from his right hand, and his left arm became useless as a result of an untreated fracture. He drank heavily, and his eyesight weakened.
Connections
Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula was married to Gladys Napanangka, with whom he had eight daughters and two sons.
