Artists profile

Ronnie Tjampitjinpa

Ronnie was born approximately 1942 near Muyinnga, about 100 kilometres west of the Kintore ranges. His family travelled widely through the Pintupi lands, living a traditional nomadic life.
 
He was initiated into manhood in the early 1950s at Yumari near his birthplace. Shortly afterwards, due to drought conditions in the 1950s, Ronnie and his family moved towards Haasts Bluff and then later joined relatives at the newly settled Papunya community. Like many of his contemporaries, he found work as a fencer making the yards for cattle in the surrounding area.
 
It was during this time that he started to take an interest in the art movement at Papunya.  Always wishing to move back to his traditional country, he eventually was able to do so when the Kintore settlement was established in 1981.
 
Always strongly affiliated with his country, Ronnie soon emerged as one of Papunya Tula’s major artists. The content of his works are indicative of his cultural beliefs and his artwork has enduringly reflected a purist style of Tingari Dreaming.
 
He is a major Australian Artist, and his work has featured in numerous exhibitions and collections around Australia. He has had solo exhibitions at the Utopia Gallery and the prestigious Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi. Several of his group exhibitions include the Dreamtime Gallery, The Australian National Gallery and the Art Gallery of South Australia. He is also in permanent collections at the National Gallery and the Art Gallery of Victoria and the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.
 

Selected Exhibitions

1983
- Mori Gallery, Sydney

1986
- Roar Studios, Melbourne

1987
- Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

1988
- Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

1989
- Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
- Aboriginal Art: The Continuing Tradition, National Gallery of Australia

1990
- Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
- Paintings from the Desert, Plimsoll Gallery, Centre for the Arts, Hobart
- The 7th National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition,   Museum & Art Gallery of the NT
- National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome

1991
- The 8th National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT
- Flash Pictures, National Gallery of Australia
- Australian Aboriginal Art from the Collection of Donald Kahn, Lowe Art Museum, USA
- Aboriginal Paintings from the Desert, Union of Soviet Artists Gallery, Moscow and Museum Art, St. Petersburg, Russia

1992
- Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
- The 9th National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT

1993
- Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Kung Gubunga, Oasis Gallery, Broadbeach, QLD
- Tjukurrpa, Desert Dreamings, Aboriginal Art from Central Australia (1971-1993), Art Gallery of Western Australia
- Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs

1994
- Dreamings - Tjukurrpa: Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert; The Donald Kahn collection, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich
- Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
- The 11th National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT
- Power of the Land, Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria
- Yiribana, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Awards
- 1988, Alice Prize, Alice Springs, NT
   
Selected Collections
- Artbank, Sydney
- Art Gallery of New South Wales
- Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
- Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
- Campbelltown City Art Galler
- Donald Kahn collection, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
- Musee des Arts Africans et Oceaniens, Paris
- Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
- National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth

Selected Bibliography
- Australian Aboriginal Art from the Collection of Donald Kahn, 1991, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, USA
- Caruana, W., 1993, Aboriginal Art, Thames and Hudson, London
- Crumlin, R., (ed.), 1991, Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, Collins Dove, VIC
- Dussart, F., 1993, La Peinture des Aborigines D'Australie, Editions Parentheses, Marseille, France
- Johnson, V., 1994, The Dictionary of Western Desert Artists, Craftsman House, NSW
- McCulloch, A., & McCulloch, S., 1994, The Encyclopaedia of Aust. Art, Allen & Unwin, NSW
- Neale, M., 1994, Yiribana, exhib. cat., Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- Wallace, D., Desmond, M., Caruana, W., 1991, Flash Pictures, exhib. cat., National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
- 1990, Papunya Tula, exhib. cat., Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
- 1992, 'Aboriginal Art', National Gallery News, 10th Birthday edition, 1992, p. 5-7
- 1993, Tjukurrpa Desert Dreamings, Aboriginal Art from Central Australia (1971-1993), exhib. cat., Art Gallery of WA
- 1993, Australian Perspecta 1993, exhib. cat., Art Gallery of New South Wales