Aboriginal Artist from Utopia

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P4003
Size 125 x 157 cm
Price AUD 50,000

Emily Kame Kngwarreye

Born: c 1910 - 2 Sept 1996
Died: Sept 1996
Language group: Eastern Anmatyerre
Region: Soakage Bore, Utopia, Northern Territory

Born at Alhalkere, Emily Kame worked as a stockrider on Utopia and other stations. In the 1970s and 1980s, she worked with batik and began painting on canvas in the summer of 1988/1989 as part of the Summer Project. As a senior member of the Anmatyerre community, she was well versed in the traditional song cycles, body painting and dances. At first her canvases such as Awelye, the Yam Dreaming cycle, showed more realistic details. She then minimalised the naturalistic approach and her art became highly abstract. She is considered one of the most significant contemporary Australian artists.

Selected exhibitions:
1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 Utopia Art, Sydney; 1989, 1990, 1993, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; 1989 Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin; 1989, 1990, 1991,1992, 1993 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; 1989 Austral Gallery, St Louis, USA; 1990 Coventry Gallery, Sydney; 1990, 1991 Art Gallery of NSW; 1990, 1992 Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth; 1990, 1991, 1993 Hogarth Galleries, Sydney; 1990, 1992, 1993 Robert Holmes a Court Collection, Moree; 1991 Union Gallery, Moscow, Russia; 1991 Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, USA; 1991, 1994 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs; 1992 State Ethnographic Museum, St Petersburg, Russia; 1993 Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; 1993, 1994 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; 1993, 1994 Tandanya, Adelaide; 1993 touring exhibition, Dusseldorf (Germany), London (UK); 1994 Milan and Palermo, Italy; 1994 Bishop Museum, Hawaii; 1995, 1996 William Mora Galleries, Melbourne; 1995 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne; 1997 Venice Biennale, Italy; 1997 Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia, Melbourne; 1998 Queensland Art Gallery (touring, retrospective exhibition); 1999 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, USA; 2000 Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, (travelling exhibition); 2001 Icons of Australian Aboriginal Art, Singapore.

Selected collections:
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin; Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs; Benalla Art Gallery, Vic; University of NSW, Sydney; Robert Holmes a Court Collection; Artbank; Auckland City Art Gallery, New Zealand; Donald Kahn Collection, Love Art Museum, University of Miami, USA; Kelton Foundation, Los Angeles, USA; Vatican Collection, Italy.

Awards:
1992 Australia Council 2-year painting grant; 1993 Churchill Art Fellowship; 1995 Australian Artists Creative Fellowship.

From: Aboriginal Artists, dictionary of biographies by Janusz B. Kreczmanski and Margo Birnberg