This exhibition brings together one hundred watercolours made by Aranda, Western Aranda, Eastern Aranda, and Kemarre artists working at Hermannsburg, across generations. Among these are key new acquisitions by Albert Namatjira, one of Australia’s most well-known artists, whose landscapes are synonymous with the Central Australian outback. An important recent gift of seventy-seven watercolours by former NGV trustee, the late Darvell M. Hutchinson AM, make up a significant portion of the exhibition.
This collection represents the ethereal beauty of Aranda Country and the cultural stories that are embedded within the landscape, depicted throughout history and into current day. A range of ethereal subjects, including distant eucalypt trees, blue mountains, rock formations, and slender ghost gums, come together to create a unified and comprehensive depiction of these distinctive traditional lands.
The exhibition features work by both historical and contemporary artists who have spent their lives dedicated to the artform, including Gerhard Inkamala, Cordula Ebatarinja – one of the only women to have a career as a painter during the boom period of the Hermannsburg School – and contemporary artist Benita Clements.
For more information visit: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/watercolour-country/
Image credit: Albert Namatjira, MacDonnell Ranges at Heavitree Gap c.1950s National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Presented by Esso Australia Pty Ltd, 2018 © Namatjira Legacy Trust/Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia. Image courtesy of NGV