Albert Namatjira Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Albert Namatjira Art Value Price Guide

Nov. 20, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959), Razorback Range, Central Australia
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, BRISBANE ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959) Razorback Range, Central Australia watercolour on paper 26.5 x 38.0 cm; 53.5 x 62.0 cm (framed) signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA bears inscription on backing verso: Razor Back Range, Central Australia/ by. Albert Namatjira/ Aranda tribe accompanied by original receipt from Grand Central Gallery, Brisbane
Menzies
Nov. 20, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959), Mount Sonder, Central Australia
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, VICTORIA ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959) Mount Sonder, Central Australia watercolour on paper 22.0 x 33.0 cm; 44.0 x 54.5 cm (framed) signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA
Menzies
Nov. 20, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959), Near Mount Gillen, Central Australia 1957
Est: $35,000 - $45,000
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, VICTORIA ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959) Near Mount Gillen, Central Australia 1957 watercolour on paper 25.0 x 35.5 cm; 40.0 x 47.5 cm (framed) signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA bears date and inscription on backing verso: NEAR MT GILLEN/ CENTRAL AUST. 16 FEB. 1957
Menzies
Nov. 09, 2024
SCHOOL OF ALBERT NAMATJIRA (AUSTRALIA, 1902-1959)
Est: $300 - $600
SCHOOL OF ALBERT NAMATJIRA (AUSTRALIA, 1902-1959) Watercolor, signed lower right "AlberT NAMATJIRA". Australian landscape with gum tree to foreground amongst mountains. Possibly painted by Namatjira's son, Albert Namatjira Jr. (b. 1955)
Selkirk Auctioneers & Appraisers
Oct. 22, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959) Central Australian Landscape c.1958 watercolour and pencil on paper 25 x 34cm
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959) Central Australian Landscape c.1958 watercolour and pencil on paper signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA 25 x 34cm PROVENANCE: Private collection, Melbourne Thence by descent OTHER NOTES: © Albert Namatjira/Copyright Agency, 2024
Leonard Joel
Aug. 28, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA, RANGES 10 MILES NORTH FROM ALICE SPRINGS, C.1954
Est: $35,000 - $45,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) RANGES 10 MILES NORTH FROM ALICE SPRINGS, c.1954 watercolour on paper 26.0 x 37.0 cm signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA signed and inscribed with title verso: Ranges 10 Miles North from Alice Springs / Albert Namatjira PROVENANCE Private collection Leonard Joel, Melbourne, 16 April 1986, lot 30 Joy Willis, Sydney Private collection, Sydney EXHIBITED Australian Icons, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Greenway Gallery, Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney, 19 – 23 August 1992 LITERATURE Herbert, X., Poor Fellow My Country, Collins Australia, Sydney, 1975, cover (illus.) Luck, P., Australian Icons, Things that make us what we are, William Heinemann, Australia, 1992, pp. 26, 27 (illus.) RELATED WORK Alice Springs Country, c.1955 – 59, watercolour on paper, 37.5 x 53.0 cm, private collection, illus. in French, A. (ed.), Seeing the Centre; The Art of Albert Namatjira 1902-1959, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002, p. 143 North Ranges Looking South, 1950s, watercolour on paper, 30.5 x 41.0 cm, in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney ESSAY ‘Albert Namatjira…emerges…as an artist of genuine creativity, whose work embodied the love of, and identification with the land.’1 A household name by the 1950s, Albert Namatjira set the foundations for the Indigenous art movement that emerged thirty years later and is still flourishing today. ,In skillfully adopting the methods and materials of Western landscape painting, he challenged the relegation of Aboriginal art to the realm of archaeology and ethnography.,2 Painted in the final years of the artist’s life, and replete with the artist’s recurring motifs, Ranges 10 Miles North from Alice Springs epitomises Namatjira’s later works. Located in the foreground, a majestic ghost gum, ( Eucalyptus papuana), known as ilwempe to the Western Arrernte, frames the viewpoint which is carefully controlled by the artist who directs the viewer to the distant peaks through the placement of intervening slopes in the middle distance, and then to the outlying mountain peaks beyond. Presenting a more open, horizontal and expansive experience of the landscape, Namatjira’s familiarity with this country is evident in these views where ‘trees, peaks and monoliths provide a rich range of possibilities and responses that arise from constantly re-engaging with the same subject.’3 In transporting his evocative landscapes of Central Australia into the lounge rooms of White Australia in the mid-twentieth century, his depictions of country were fundamental to how Australians viewed their island home. Namatjira,s entry into the Australian art world was both inspired and inspiring. Despite his personal vicissitudes, he inspired his own and subsequent generations of Aboriginal people and artists across Australia and sought to educated non-indigenous Australians about the spiritual link between indigenous people and land. Brenda Croft contends that the artist’s gift to indigenous and non-indigenous people is ‘more than the sum parts of watercolour paints on paper. It is an essence that resides in the strength of Namatjira’s work – his courage, his sorrow, his spirituality… where the enduring influence of this one man upon the entire indigenous arts and culture industry continues to be felt.’4 1. Nuggett Coombs, H.C., ‘Introduction’ in Amadio, N., Albert Namatjira; The Life and Work of an Australian Painter, Macmillan, Melbourne 1986, p. vii 2. Watson, K., ‘Poetic Justice: an overview of Indigenous Art’, in Perkins, H., One Sun, One Moon: Aboriginal Art in Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2007, p. 20 3. French, A., Seeing the Centre: The Art of Albert Namatjira 1902 – 1959, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002, p. 97 4. Croft, B., ‘Albert’s Gift’ in French, ibid., p. 148 CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE © Namatjira Legacy Trust/Copyright Agency, 2024
Deutscher and Hackett
Aug. 27, 2024
Albert Namatjira, (1902-1959), Mount Burt Range, watercolour on paper, 34 x 47 cm
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
Albert Namatjira (1902-1959) Mount Burt Range watercolour on paper signed l.r.c. 'Albert Namatjira'
Shapiro Auctioneers
Aug. 24, 2024
Albert Namatjira (1902-1959),
Est: $15,000 - $20,000
Mount Sonder, Macdonell Ranges watercolour and pencil on paper signed lower right 21.5cm x 30cm a/f (light foxing to areas of sky)
Aalders Auctions
Aug. 21, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA 1902-1959 Jamieson Ranges watercolour over pencil on paper 31 x 52 cm
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA 1902-1959 Jamieson Ranges watercolour over pencil on paper signed ‘ALBERT NAMATJIRA' lower right 31 x 52 cm PROVENANCE Albert Namatjira, Hermannsburg, Northern Territory Private Collection Kenthurst Galleries, Sydney Private Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above in 1989
Smith & Singer
Aug. 15, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA, (1902 - 1959), River Gums, Ellery Creek, c1954, watercolour, 34 x 25.5 cm. (13.3 x 10.0 in.), frame: 66 x 55 x 5 cm. (25.9 x 21.6 x 1.9 in.)
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) River Gums, Ellery Creek, c1954 watercolour signed lower right
Lawsons
Aug. 15, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA, (1902 - 1959), Uluru, watercolour, 25 x 35 cm. (9.8 x 13.7 in.), frame: 66 x 76 x 5 cm. (25.9 x 29.9 x 1.9 in.)
Est: $30,000 - $50,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) Uluru watercolour signed lower right
Lawsons
Jul. 14, 2024
Albert Namatjira (Aboriginal Australian 1902-1959)…
Est: $600 - $900
Albert Namatjira (Aboriginal Australian 1902-1959) mulga wood letter opener circa 1935, blade painted with probably a kookaburra signed Albert Namatjira, the other side with Aboriginal handcraft motifs Hermannsburg central Australia, 16.5 x 1.6 cm, front side with minor evidence of lacquer loss, no repairs or breaks
Amanda Addams Auctions
Jul. 07, 2024
Albert Namatjira print of Mt Sonder Macdonnell Ranges N.T. Signature and 1945 date within the print
Est: $200 - $400
Albert Namatjira print of Mt Sonder Macdonnell Ranges N.T. Signature and 1945 date within the print
Lawsons
May. 26, 2024
NAMATJIRA Albert (1902-1959), Central Australia, W/Clr, 25.5x35cm
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
NAMATJIRA, Albert (1902-1959) Central Australia Signed lower right. Possible artist inscription to margin lower centre obscured by mount - see image. Certified verso by Michael Nash, art consultant, dated 15/6/[19]72. W/Clr 25.5x35cm
Davidson Auctions
May. 16, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA PRINT + WATERCOLOUR SIGNED LOWER LEFT
Est: $10 - $40
ALBERT NAMATJIRA PRINT + WATERCOLOUR SIGNED LOWER LEFT
Albion Antique Auction Centre
May. 07, 2024
Albert Namatjira (1902-1959) East Side Ranges, Jay Creek, c.1957
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
Albert Namatjira (1902-1959) East Side Ranges, Jay Creek, c.1957 signed lower right: 'ALBERT NAMATJIRA' watercolour on paper 17.0 x 26.0cm (6 11/16 x 10 1/4in).
Bonhams
Apr. 17, 2024
§ ALBERT NAMATJIRA 1902-1959 Central Australian Landscape watercolour over pencil on paper 25 x 35.5 cm
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
§ ALBERT NAMATJIRA 1902-1959 Central Australian Landscape watercolour over pencil on paper signed 'ALBERT NAMATJIRA' lower right 25 x 35.5 cm PROVENANCE Albert Namatjira, Hermannsburg, Northern Territory Private Collection Art Galleries Schubert, Queensland Private Collection, Queensland Australian & International Fine Art, Menzies, Sydney, 11 May 2017, lot 113, illustrated Private Collection, Sydney EXHIBITED Flow: Stories of River, Earth and Sky, Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, 20 November 2021 - 26 June 2022
Smith & Singer
Apr. 17, 2024
§ ALBERT NAMATJIRA 1902-1959 Central Australian Landscape watercolour over pencil on paper 25 x 35.5 cm
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
§ ALBERT NAMATJIRA 1902-1959 Central Australian Landscape watercolour over pencil on paper signed 'ALBERT NAMATJIRA' lower right 25 x 35.5 cm PROVENANCE Albert Namatjira, Hermannsburg, Alice Springs Private Collection, New South Wales Quarterly Fine Art Auction, Lawson-Menzies, Sydney, 21 November 2013, lot 78, illustrated Private Collection, Melbourne, acquired from the above Australian & International Fine Art, Menzies, Sydney, 11 May 2017, lot 87, illustrated Private Collection, Sydney, acquired from the above EXHIBITED Flow: Stories of River, Earth and Sky, Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, 20 November 2021 - 26 June 2022
Smith & Singer
Apr. 07, 2024
Albert Namatjira
Est: $120 - $150
The Art of Albert Namatjira by CP Mountford, published by Bread and Cheese Club Melbourne 1944, hardcover with dust wrapper, good copy, wrapper a little torn, minor foxing, tanning
Sydney Rare Book Auctions
Mar. 27, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959), Ellery Creek Big Hole c1955
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, MELBOURNE ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959) Ellery Creek Big Hole c1955 watercolour on paper 36.0 x 54.0 cm; 58.0 x 74.0 cm (framed) signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA signed and inscribed verso: Albert Namatjira/ Ellery Creek/ £150
Menzies
Mar. 26, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA, UNTITLED (CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPE), C.1951
Est: $18,000 - $25,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) UNTITLED (CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN LANDSCAPE), c.1951 watercolour and pencil on paper on card 24.5 x 36.0 cm signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA PROVENANCE Grand Central Gallery, Brisbane Private collection, Queensland, acquired from the above in 1967 Thence by descent Private collection, New South Wales © Namatjira Legacy Trust/Copyright Agency 2024
Deutscher and Hackett
Mar. 26, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA, SOUTH RANGES FROM JAY CREEK, C.1951
Est: $28,000 - $35,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) SOUTH RANGES FROM JAY CREEK, c.1951 watercolour and pencil on paper 31.0 x 48.0 cm signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA signed and inscribed with title verso: South Ranges from Jay Creek / Albert Namatjira PROVENANCE Private collection, Melbourne, acquired at an exhibition in Melbourne in the mid 1950s Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne © Namatjira Legacy Trust/Copyright Agency 2024
Deutscher and Hackett
Mar. 26, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA, GHOST GUMS, NORTH MACDONNELL RANGES,
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) GHOST GUMS, NORTH MACDONNELL RANGES watercolour and pencil on paper 28.5 x 38.5 cm signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA signed and inscribed with title verso: North Mc Donnells' / Albert Namatjira PROVENANCE Dinah Krongold, Melbourne Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne © Namatjira Legacy Trust/Copyright Agency 2024
Deutscher and Hackett
Mar. 26, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA, RANGES NEAR JAY CREEK, C.1950
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) RANGES NEAR JAY CREEK, c.1950 watercolour and pencil on paper 25.0 x 35.0 cm signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA signed and inscribed with title verso: Ranges Near Jay Creek / Albert Namatjira PROVENANCE Private collection, Queensland Brisbane Galleries, Brisbane Isles Love Auction Centre, Brisbane, 7 April 1989, lot 16 Private collection, Queensland © Namatjira Legacy Trust/Copyright Agency 2024
Deutscher and Hackett
Mar. 26, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA, RANGES WEST SIMPSONS GAP,
Est: $40,000 - $60,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) RANGES WEST SIMPSONS GAP watercolour and pencil on paper 34.0 x 51.0 cm signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA signed and inscribed with title verso: Ranges West Simpsons Gap / Albert Namatjira PROVENANCE Dinah Krongold, Melbourne Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne © Namatjira Legacy Trust/Copyright Agency 2024
Deutscher and Hackett
Mar. 24, 2024
Attributed to Albert Namatjira (1902-59) Australia. Aboriginal, carved mulga wood boomerang, carved with emu and kangaroos, Pencil inscription to back reads - Albert Namatjira Aranda Tribe c/o The Hermannsburg Mission school 2 pounds, approx 70cm L
Est: $300 - $500
Attributed to Albert Namatjira (1902-59) Australia. Aboriginal, carved mulga wood boomerang, carved with emu and kangaroos, Pencil inscription to back reads - Albert Namatjira Aranda Tribe c/o The Hermannsburg Mission school 2 pounds, approx 70cm L
Vickers & Hoad
Mar. 07, 2024
ALBERT NAMATJIRA PRINT + LIONEL LINDSAY PRINT
Est: $10 - $40
ALBERT NAMATJIRA PRINT + LIONEL LINDSAY PRINT
Albion Antique Auction Centre
Mar. 05, 2024
Albert Namatjira - Glen Helen Gorge, 1942
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
Albert Namatjira began painting in the early 1930s and his aptitude in capturing the high colouring of the desert landscape, the gorges and valleys of the country of his birth and his Dreaming, brought him instant success. He typically painted his desert country from a slightly elevated point of view, as if looking down, ever so slightly on the landscape. He was able to capture the subtleties of colour as the desert changes from the soft tones of summer heat, to the rich colours of the early morning and late evening light. The majority of his paintings lack a central focal point yet a visual emphasis on the edges holds the composition in balance without either a dominance of forms near the centre or a hierarchy of formsâ. While he is 'often characterised as a tragic figure trapped between two worlds and two art traditions' Albert Namatjiraâs paintings of the Western MacDonnell Ranges, Mount Sonder and the surrounding desert have endured to become synonymous with a romantic vision of the Australian outback.
Cooee Art
Feb. 03, 2024
Albert Namatjira (1902-1959) & Kenneth Entata (1932-1982), Pair of Landscapes
Est: $100 - $200
Iconic depictions of the Australian landscape by two acclaimed Indigenous artists. Includes: 1.) Albert Namatjira (1902-1959). 'Glen Helen Landscape, Central Australia', print reproduction, 34 x 48cm (image), 58.5 x 71cm (frame). Facsimile signed lower right. Inner frame with spotting, would benefit from cleaning, paper toned and aged. Widely considered one of the most notable Australian artists, Albert (Elea) Namatjira (1902-1959), was a pioneer of contemporary Indigenous Australian art. Namatjira was born at Hermannsburg (Ntaria), Northern Territory, a member of the Western Arrernte people. Considered observation, repeated motifs, subtly modulated surface pattern and an imbued sense of place are all inherent in his work, which united aspects of traditional Indigenous and immigrant painting practices. Best known for his luminous watercolours, Namatjira's deep connection to ancestral lands is evident in his artistic oeuvre, with a strong focus on traditional sites and culture. 2.) Kenneth Entata (1932-1982). Untitled (Ghost Gum Landscape), watercolour on paper, affixed to cardboard, 13 x 17.4cm, unframed. Signed lower left 'Kenneth ENTATA'. A few light marks, also wear and minor yellowing to edges. An iconic view of the central Australian desert landscape, in the manner of the Hermannsburg School of painters. Please note: All art is available for local pickup, otherwise courier to be arranged and paid for by bidder. [2]
Roxbury's Auction House
Nov. 29, 2023
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959), Arrernte/Aranda language group, Mount Sonder, MacDonnell Ranges c1957
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959) Arrernte/Aranda language group Mount Sonder, MacDonnell Ranges c1957 watercolour on paper 23.5 x 33.5 cm; 45.5 x 54.5 cm (framed) signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA
Menzies
Nov. 29, 2023
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959), Arrernte/Aranda language group, West MacDonnell Ranges
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959) Arrernte/Aranda language group West MacDonnell Ranges watercolour on paper 26.0 x 37.5 cm; 50.0 x 60.5 cm (framed) signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA
Menzies
Nov. 29, 2023
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959), Arrernte/Aranda language group, Areyonga Soak c1950
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959) Arrernte/Aranda language group Areyonga Soak c1950 watercolour on paper 38.0 x 27.5 cm; 53.5 x 48.0 cm (framed) signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA bears inscription verso: Areyonga Mining
Menzies
Nov. 28, 2023
Albert Namatjira (1902-1959) Mount Sonder
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
Albert Namatjira (1902-1959) Mount Sonder signed lower right: 'ALBERT NAMATJIRA' watercolour and pencil on paper 26.5 x 38.5cm (10 7/16 x 15 3/16in).
Bonhams
Nov. 22, 2023
ALBERT NAMATJIRA, MT LIEBIG FROM THE SOUTH, C.1945
Est: $18,000 - $25,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) MT LIEBIG FROM THE SOUTH, c.1945 watercolour on paper 33.0 x 50.0 cm (sheet) signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA inscribed verso: 60 gns / Mt Liebig from the South PROVENANCE Private collection, New South Wales, by 1953 Thence by descent Private collection, New South Wales © Namatjira Legacy Trust/Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 22, 2023
ALBERT NAMATJIRA, NORTH GULLY LOOKING TO MT GILLEN, ALICE SPRINGS, C.1958
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) NORTH GULLY LOOKING TO MT GILLEN, ALICE SPRINGS, c.1958 watercolour and pencil on paper on card 26.5 x 37.5 cm (sheet) signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA inscribed with title verso: NTH GULLY LOOKING TO MT. GILLEN, ALICE SPRING [sic.] PROVENANCE Private collection, Sydney Private collection, Queensland, acquired c.1980 Thence by descent Private collection, Queensland RELATED WORK Alice Springs Country, c.1955 – 59, watercolour on paper, 37.5 x 53.0 cm, illus. in French, A. (ed.) Seeing the Centre; The Art of Albert Namatjira 1902 – 1959, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002, p. 143 ESSAY ‘Albert Namatjira…emerges…as an artist of genuine creativity, whose work embodied the love of, and identification with the land.’1 In transporting his evocative landscapes of Central Australia into the lounge rooms of White Australia in the mid-twentieth century, Albert Namatjira set the foundations for the recognition of an Indigenous art that was to emerge thirty years later and flourish into the twenty-first century. A household name by the 1950s, and the first Aboriginal person to be granted full Australian citizenship, his depictions of country were fundamental to how Australians viewed their island home. ‘Namatjira's dramatic entry into the Australian art world was both inspired and inspiring. He inspired his own and subsequent generations of Aboriginal people and artists across Australia. In skillfully adopting the methods and materials of Western landscape painting he challenged the relegation of Aboriginal art to the realm of archaeology and ethnography.’2 Painted in the final years of the artist’s life, and typical of Namatjira’s later works, North Gully Looking to Mt Gillen, Alice Springs, c. 1955 – 57 is an exemplar of the artist’s recurring motifs. Located in the foreground, a majestic ghost gum ( Eucalyptus papuana) – known as ilwempe to the Western Arrernte – frames the view to the abrupt slopes of Akngwelye (Mount Gillen) in the middle distance and out to the distant peaks beyond. ‘Namatjira’s familiarity with this country is evident in these views where trees, peaks and monoliths provide a rich range of possibilities and responses that arise from constantly re-engaging with the same subject.’3 One of three prominent hills surrounding Mparntwe (Alice Springs) and sacred to the Arrernte, Akngwelye (Mount Gillen) is found approximately ten kilometres to the west of Alice Springs rising up from the Larapinta valley. In Mythological times, Mount Gillen was the site of a struggle between an ancestral wild dog named Akngwelye and an intruder. Their skirmish created many of the natural features of the landscape to the west of Alice Springs and the striking peak of Mount Gillen is the resting place of Akngwelye. Wenten Rubuntja, artist and Chairman of the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority in Mparntwe, explained the sensitivity to plural meanings required in the appreciation of Namatjira’s artworks: ‘…we’re not photographers, taking pictures. The country has got sacred sites, that stone, that mountain has got Dreaming and himself is sacred country. Not just free mountain. We sing that one – we got that song. Well, the song is the history of the country. […] Albert Namatjira used whitefella’s side of the story – he painted landscape. He painted the Twerrenge (Dreaming) side there as well. Namatjira used two Laws.’4 1. Nuggett Coombs, H. C., ‘Introduction’ in Amadio, N., Albert Namatjira; The Life and Work of an Australian Painter, McMillan, Melbourne, 1986, p. vii 2. Watson, K., ‘Poetic Justice: an overview of Indigenous Art’, in Perkins, H., One Sun, One Moon: Aboriginal Art in Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2007, p. 20 3. French, A., Seeing the Centre: The Art of Albert Namatjira 1902 – 1959, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002, p. 96 4. Rubuntja cited in French, A., ‘We’ve Got to Follow that Old Man’s Tracks: Engaging with the Art of Albert Namatjira’, in Perkins, op. cit., p. 159 CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE © Namatjira Legacy Trust/Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Nov. 21, 2023
ALBERT NAMATJIRA - MACDONNELL RANGES NEAR 10 MILE BORE, CENTRAL AUSTRALIA - WATERCOLOUR
Est: $30,000 - $38,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959) MACDONNELL RANGES NEAR 10 MILE BORE, CENTRAL AUSTRALIA Signed lower right Watercolour 24.5 x 34cm Estimate $30,000/38,000 AUD
GFL Fine Art
Nov. 11, 2023
Albert Namatjira (1902-1959), 'Glen Helen Landscape, Central Australia'
Est: $200 - $300
Print, 34 x 48cm (image), 58.5 x 71cm (frame). Facsimile signed lower right. Inner frame with spotting, would benefit from cleaning, paper toned and aged. Available for local pickup, otherwise courier to be arranged and paid for by bidder. Widely considered one of the most notable Australian artists, Albert (Elea) Namatjira (1902-1959), was a pioneer of contemporary Indigenous Australian art. Namatjira was born at Hermannsburg (Ntaria), Northern Territory, a member of the Western Arrernte people. Considered observation, repeated motifs, subtly modulated surface pattern and an imbued sense of place are all inherent in his work, which united aspects of traditional Indigenous and immigrant painting practices. Best known for his luminous watercolours, Namatjira's deep connection to ancestral lands is evident in his artistic oeuvre, with a strong focus on traditional sites and culture.
Roxbury's Auction House
Oct. 29, 2023
Albert Namatjira, Junior, (Australia, (Aboriginal) 1955-), "MacDonnell Ranges", Watercolour, 28 x 40.50 cm. (11.02 x 15.94 in.), Frame: 44.50 x 56 cm. (17.52 x 22.05 in.)
Est: -
Albert Namatjira, Junior (Australia, (Aboriginal), 1955-) "MacDonnell Ranges" Watercolour signed lower centre left.
Bargain Hunt Auctions
Oct. 08, 2023
Albert Namatjira, Junior, (Australia, (Aboriginal) 1955-), "MacDonnell Ranges", Watercolour, 28 x 40.50 cm. (11.02 x 15.94 in.), Frame: 44.50 x 56 cm. (17.52 x 22.05 in.)
Est: -
Albert Namatjira, Junior (Australia, (Aboriginal), 1955-) "MacDonnell Ranges" Watercolour signed lower centre left.
Bargain Hunt Auctions
Sep. 05, 2023
ALBERT NAMATJIRA 1902-1959
Est: $2,000 - $3,000
A woomera painted with a central Australia landscape scene, signed lower right. Watercolour over pencil on hardwood, with spinifex resin at one end and a kangaroo sinew-bound hook at the other. Inscribed verso: [Aboriginal Handicraft l Hermannsburg l Central Australia], and another smaller watercolour sketch of a goanna head. 73 x 13cm. Old repair to timber.
McKenzies Auctioneers
Aug. 31, 2023
ALBERT NAMATJIRA PRINT MT. SONDER
Est: $10 - $40
ALBERT NAMATJIRA PRINT MT. SONDER
Albion Antique Auction Centre
Aug. 20, 2023
NAMATJIRA Albert (1902-1959), 'West from Simpsons Gap', W/Clr, 23.5x34cm
Est: $25,000 - $35,000
NAMATJIRA, Albert (1902-1959) 'West from Simpsons Gap' Signed 'Albert Namatjira' lower right. Titled and hand signed in ink verso. W/Clr 23.5x34cm PROVENANCE: The artist; Mr Eric Choat, Lambton N.S.W (purchased from the above); thence by descent, private collection ACT.
Davidson Auctions
Aug. 17, 2023
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) - Central Australian Ranges; Portrait of Albert's Son, c1936 watercolour 20 x 31 cm (frame: 36 x 47 x...
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) Central Australian Ranges; Portrait of Albert's Son, c1936 watercolour 20 x 31 cm (frame: 36 x 47 x 2 cm) signed 'Albert' lower right | Provenance: Private Collection, Sydney (inherited by descent); Private Collection of Friderich Wilhelm Mattner (Member of the Finke Mission Board, and periodically worked in the Hermannsburg region between 1918 until 1947)
Lawsons
Aug. 16, 2023
ALBERT NAMATJIRA, GHOST GUMS, MACDONNELL RANGES, C.1950S
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) GHOST GUMS, MACDONNELL RANGES, c.1950s watercolour on paper on card 26.5 x 37.5 cm signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA PROVENANCE Private collection, Sydney Lawsons, Sydney, 21 November 2000, lot 134 (as ‘View of the MacDonnells’) Private collection, Melbourne Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne (label attached verso, stock no. 210041) Private collection, New South Wales, acquired from the above in 2001 EXHIBITED Annual Collectors' Exhibition, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 31 May – 14 July 2001 The Art of Buying Wisely, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne, 2001 © Namatjira Legacy Trust/Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Aug. 16, 2023
ALBERT NAMATJIRA, LOOKING WEST FROM GLEN HELEN, 1951
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) LOOKING WEST FROM GLEN HELEN, 1951 watercolour and pencil on paper 26.0 x 37.5 cm signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA inscribed on sheet verso: Looking / West from / Glen Helen PROVENANCE Dennis Connors (Newcastle Waters Station, NT), acquired in the early 1950s Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne, acquired c.1980 Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne, acquired in 2006 RELATED WORK Glen Helen Country, watercolour on paperboard, 25.0 x 34.0 cm, in the collection of Ngurratjuta Pmara Corporation Collection, Araluen Galleries, Alice Springs ESSAY Albert Namatjira was a naturalist and a tonalist, whose patrilineal totemic connection to the country bordering and north of Glen Helen ( Yalpalpe) and the Finke River ( Lherre pirntea) formed the bedrock of his art and provided plural meanings for those viewers who could read them. Landforms as discrete entities held a certain fascination for the artist. Whether they are large mountains or monoliths on a smaller scale, they also hold spiritual meaning for the traditional owners and, as with many locations in central Australian, can be read as both ‘sights’ and ‘sites’.1 Painted in 1951, Looking West from Glen Helen observes the distant ranges far to the west of Glen Helen Gorge and appears atypical in that the viewpoint is not framed by a gum tree or rocky outcrop located in the foreground. Presenting a more open horizontal and expansive experience of the landscape, the viewpoint is nevertheless carefully controlled by the artist who directs the viewer to the distant peaks through the placement of intervening mountain slopes in the middle distance. Namatjira’s familiarity with his country is evident in these long distant views ‘where peaks and monoliths provide a rich range of possibilities and responses that arise from constantly re-engaging with the same subject.’2 They also resonate with important personal symbolism for the artist as statements of belonging – as coded expressions embodying the memory and knowledge of traditional ancestral sites, of his totemic places. Landscape artist Lloyd Rees acknowledged this duality when he observed ‘I find in his [Namatjira’s] work a marvelous sense of distance and of space. His eye can look so far away and seem to know what’s there’.3 Wenten Rubuntja, artist and Chairman of the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority in Mparntwe, where Namatjira lived, explained the sensitivity to plural meanings required in the appreciation of Namatjira’s artworks: ‘we’re not photographers, taking pictures. The country has got sacred sites, that stone, that mountain has got Dreaming and himself is sacred country. Not just free mountain. We sing that one – we got that song. Well, the song is the history of the country. […] Albert Namatjira used whitefella’s side of the story – he painted landscape. He painted the Twerrenge (Dreaming) side there as well. Namatjira used two Laws’.4 1. French, A., Seeing the Centre: The Art of Albert Namatjira 1902 – 1959, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002, p. 93 2. ibid., p. 96 3. ibid., p. 97 4. Rubuntja, W., cited in French, A., ‘We’ve Got to Follow that Old Man’s Tracks: Engaging with the Art of Albert Namatjira’, in Perkins, H., and West, M., One Sun One Moon: Aboriginal Art in Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2007, p. 159 CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE © Namatjira Legacy Trust/Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Aug. 16, 2023
ALBERT NAMATJIRA, GHOST GUM, CENTRAL AUSTRALIA, 1951
Est: $38,000 - $45,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) GHOST GUM, CENTRAL AUSTRALIA, 1951 watercolour and pencil on paper 26.0 x 37.0 cm signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA bears inscription on sheet verso: 17/4/51 PROVENANCE Acquired by Denis Connors (Newcastle Waters Station, NT), acquired in the early 1950s Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne, acquired c.1960 Thence by descent Private collection, Melbourne, acquired in 2001 ESSAY Albert Namatjira’s painting of the central Australian landscape was both innovative and personal. However, contained beneath the cover of the western artform, the artist also made claim to his country, plural meanings can be seen to have existed within his paintings. His landscapes can also be read as memories of an ancestral site and through the reiteration of the subject, a claim of ownership is subtly asserted. Gum trees and mountains feature prominently in Namatjira’s work and Ghost Gum, Central Australia, 1951 is a prominent example of both a familiar subject to the viewer and a statement of belonging by the artist. Like much of Namatjira’s finest works, this watercolour evokes the artist’s distinctive compositional device with his much-loved, luminous white Ghost Gum typically dominating the foreground, and silhouetted against a dramatic rocky foreground of red and purple tones and the distant mountain ranges in blue. The Ghost Gum (Eucalyptus papuana), both the painting’s focus and a pointer to the distant landscape, is an incredibly hardy species. Known as ilwempe to the Western Arrernte, it grows in extraordinary inhospitable conditions and features in Aboriginal creation stories, in which individual trees can be considered to represent ancestral beings.1 Balanced on the left side of the composition and reaching beyond the picture, the majestic gum plays a pivotal role not only as a framing device and point of entry into the picture plane. More fundamentally perhaps, the signature cropped tree motif creates a tangible sense of being present in the landscape, of participating alongside the artist in seeing and identifying with the land – thus imbuing the work with an unmistakable intimacy. Through a combination of deep ancestral connection to Arrente country and his extraordinary compositional skills in representing country and the changing effects of the light, Albert Namatjira inspired a school of painting, having a major impact across Australia and creating some of the earliest bridges between Aboriginal and western cultures, which were to be reinforced by later forms of desert art. 1. French, A., Seeing the Centre: The Art of Albert Namatjira, 1902 – 1959, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002, p. 121 CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE © Namatjira Legacy Trust/Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Aug. 16, 2023
ALBERT NAMATJIRA, PALM VALLEY, 1940S
Est: $45,000 - $55,000
ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902 - 1959) PALM VALLEY, 1940s watercolour on paper 40.5 x 29.5 cm (sheet) signed lower right: ALBERT NAMATJIRA signed and inscribed with title verso: Palm Valley / Albert Namatjira PROVENANCE Private collection Henry Krongold, Melbourne The Estate of Paul Krongold, Melbourne RELATED WORK Palm Valley, James Range, 1945, watercolour over pencil on paper, 57.0 x 40.0 cm, Private collection, Adelaide, illus. in French, A., Seeing the Centre: The Art of Albert Namatjira 1902 – 1959, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002, p. 111 Palm Valley, c.1936, watercolour over pencil on paper, 18.5 x 26.0 cm, in the collection of the Araluen Art Collection, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs. Gift of the late J. F. W. Schulz's grandchildren: Mrs M. Mertin, Miss E. Schulz, Mrs J. Chambers and Mrs A. Juttner. This painting was presented to Mr Schulz by Pastor Albrecht at the Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission. ESSAY From the creation of his earliest watercolours in the 1930s, Albert Namatjira provided the foundation for the later emergence of Indigenous art at Papunya forty years later and the flourishing that would follow. A household name by the 1950s, Namatjira’s evocative landscapes of inland Australia were fundamental to how Australians viewed their island home. ‘Namatjira's dramatic entry into the Australian art world was both inspired and inspiring. He inspired his own and subsequent generations of Aboriginal people and artists across Australia. In skilfully adopting the methods and materials of Western landscape painting he challenged the relegation of Aboriginal art to the realm of archaeology and ethnography. Namatjira became the most prominent Aboriginal Australian of his era and, in 1957, was the first Aboriginal person to be granted full citizenship.’1 Palm Valley, part of Namatjira's mother's country, is located in what is now known as the Finke Gorge National Park in the Northern Territory. ‘One of Namatjira’s most popular subjects particularly in the 1940s….some compositions focus on a single palm, the majority explore their relationship as a group in the intimacy of a closed environment…observed in specific light conditions.’2 In this work two central australian cabbage palms ( Livistona Mariae) emerge from dense vegetation and are silhouetted against the cloudless blue sky, towering above a rocky outcrop to the left and the still rockpool below. Known as Arrangkeye in Western Arrente language, the cabbage palm is an extremely rare plant, a remnant of a time when central Australia was much wetter and covered by such vegetation. Unique to this region, it is restricted to a small area of 60 square kilometres around the Finke River and its tributaries. During painting trips, Namatjira would return to the same site at the same hour every day in an attempt to recapture the same effect in an ever-changing environment. This work, painted in the heat of the afternoon, depicts the palm trees bathed in the strong light of mid-afternoon sun with little shade offered by the overhanging rock. The only visible relief from the heat is the cool water of the Finke tributary, shimmering at the bottom of the work. The art of Albert Namatjira is now understood to have inspired his own and subsequent generations of Aboriginal people and artists across Australia. Namatjira’s watercolours of Palm Valley encouraged successive generations to paint there, especially Walter Ebatarinja and his wife Cordula whose idiosyncratic depictions of Palm Valley record the site from their personal perspectives. Brenda Croft argues that the artist’s gift to indigenous and non-indigenous people is ‘more than the sum parts of watercolour paints on paper. It is an essence that resides in the strength of Namatjira’s work – his courage, his sorrow, his spirituality… where the enduring influence of this one man upon the entire indigenous arts and culture industry continues to be felt.’3 1. Watson, K., ‘Poetic Justice: an overview of Indigenous Art’, in Perkins, H., One Sun, One Moon: Aboriginal Art in Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2007, p. 20 2. French, A., Seeing the Centre: The Art of Albert Namatjira 1902-1959, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002, p.107 3. Croft, B., ‘Albert’s Gift’ in French, A., Seeing the Centre: The Art of Albert Namatjira, 1902-1959, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002, p. 148 CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE © Namatjira Legacy Trust/Copyright Agency 2023
Deutscher and Hackett
Aug. 03, 2023
ALBERT NAMATJIRA FRAMED PRINT
Est: $10 - $40
ALBERT NAMATJIRA FRAMED PRINT
Albion Antique Auction Centre