Gloria Petyarre
Mountain Devil Lizard
1994

Name: Mountain Devil Lizard
Brand: Gloria Petyarre
Price: 6000 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Gloria Petyarre, sometimes referred to as Gloria Pitjara, was one of Australia s most successful and significant female artists. Her depiction of the Kurrajong bush medicine leaves-with her layered, free-flowing, swirling brushstrokes that scatter across the canvas-became her iconic motif. Her career took off when she won the coveted 'Wynne Prize for Landscape' at the New South Wales Gallery in 1999. It was a triumph for Aboriginal art. Gloria became the first Indigenous Australian artist ever to win a major art prize at the Gallery of New South Wales. The painting was an extraordinary new artistic statement, quite unlike any other Aboriginal artwork at that time. A huge, gold and green abstract work, it was made up of swirling leaf shaped brush strokes positioned close together on a black background. It brilliantly captured the energy and flow of leaves being scattered by a fitful wind, seaweed swirling in a change of tide, or grass billowing in the wind. So much did this artwork fascinate the essentially nature-loving people of this country, that it was to become one of the most popular styles in Aboriginal art, bringing many a devotee to the genre because of its resonance with the viewer. Gloria continued to paint this style for the next 20 years until her retirement in 2019 due to health issues. During that time and subsequently, the style has been adopted and adapted by several generations of her family members. However, Gloria was and is credited with being the creator of this popular style and its most collectable proponent. Gloria's origins are in a region called Utopia, covering an area approximately 230 - 300km from Alice Springs, itself a remote town to many people. Many of Australia's foremost Indigenous artists spring from this area, including Gloria's renowned aunt, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, deceased since 1996, and the most famous and accomplished female Indigenous Artist Australia has produced. Gloria, her family members and her skin family, first became interested in art making by participating in the Utopia Women's Silk Batik Group introduced in 1977 and initiated by CAAMA (the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association). Both Gloria and Emily were founding members of the group. With up to 80 members at a time, the Batik and Tie-die project became the seeding inspiration for the artists, and its tremendous success both in Australia and overseas led to another successful project introduced in 1988, again by CAAMA. This time, the artists were to paint on primed, stretched canvas, and many of the women took to the new medium with ease and enthusiasm, finding it more exciting to work with than the silk and batik techniques they had hitherto used. The resulting works were exhibited at the S.H.Erwin Gallery in Sydney and several other notable galleries across Australia. It was the beginning of the Utopian Art Movement, and it was impressive enough to gain international attention. Gloria was one of the artists at the very centre of it. As demand for Utopian art grew, so did Gloria's career. She travelled with her art to many countries and exhibited in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, the USA and Japan, and of course in regional and commercial galleries throughout Australia. It would be easy to think that Gloria's works were limited to bush medicine leaves works, so popular were they. In fact she had quite a number of Dreamings in her portfolio. She painted the 'Thorny Mountain Devil Lizard Dreaming', a pattern of swirling coloured lines which imitate the tracks made in the sand by the lizard's tail. Yam Dreaming, popularly executed by her aunt Emily, was also one of her commonly painted stories. She also painted Grass Seed, Pencil Yam, Emu, Bean, Small Brown Grass and Body Paint Dreamings. This breadth of subject matter and style has made her an extremely versatile artist. Later in her career, Gloria began to paint massive 'Big Leaf' paintings, expressionistically rendered with giant brush strokes that mix colour on the canvas to gain a variety of fascinating paint effects. The smile on her face while she painted these works revealed her delight in having a break from the finer styles that had occupied her previously. Gloria was a multi-award winning artist and a highly collectible one. Her involvement in the founding projects of the Utopian Art Movement, and her status in the group have given her a place in Australian Art History - as well as a significant body of work. Apart from her Wynne Prize success, Gloria went on to be a finalist another four times. The most prestigious Indigenous art competition in this country, the 'Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award' has featured her artworks on many occasions, and her works are widely collected and commonly held in the finest Aboriginal Art Collections and Museums worldwide. Her list of artistic achievements is immense and her gift as an artist has touched many people - but it was her personal presence that left the greatest impact. The delight she took in meeting new people, unreservedly sharing the stories and songs of her Country are some of our most cherished memories of her. She was a woman of immeasurable generosity. Her beauty truly radiated from the inside out and manifested itself in her stunning artworks that are cherished by people around the world. She has travelled safely home to her Anmatyerre Country and her beautiful spirit will continue to radiate through her canvases. Selected Solo Exhibitions 2014 Gloria Petyarre: Leaves, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane 2010 DACOU Gallery, Melbourne 2009 New Works, Big Leaves, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2003 Changes - Gloria Petyarre, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane 1999 Wildflowers, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs 1999 New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale 1999 Red Desert Gallery, Eumundi, QLD 1999 Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne 1998 Campbelltown Bicentennial Art Gallery, Campbelltown 1998 Chapman Gallery, Canberra 1998 Utopia Art, Sydney 1998 Robert Steele Gallery, Adelaide 1997 Instant Pictures, Utopia Art Sydney 1996 FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane 1995 New Works: Gloria Petyarre, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane 1995 Gloria Petyarre: On the Line, Utopia Art, Sydney 1994 Utopia Art Sydney Selected Group Exhibitions 2022 Connection, National Museum of Australia, Canberra 2022 Happy New Year, Yaama Ganu Gallery, Moree 2021 Private Collection Private View: One Collector's Passion & Soul, Cooee Art, Redfern 2021 Abstraction, Utopia Art, Sydney 2021 Country in Mind, University of the Sunshine Coast, QLD 2021 Voyage across Aboriginal Australia - Founders' Favourites, Fondation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Moitiers, Switzerland 2021 Top Ten Artists 2020, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2021 Big Names Little Paintings, Cooee Art Gallery, Sydney 2020 Colours of Spring, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2020 A Celebration of Mother's Day 2020, Lauraine Diggins Fine Art, Melbourne 2020 Pointillism Perfection, Art Mob, Hobart 2020 Still in the Desert, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane 2020 Director's Choice 2020, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2020 Spring, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane 2020 Top Ten - Our Most Popular Artists 2019, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2019 Summer Show & Art Parade, Salt, Queenscliff, VIC 2019 Defining tradition black + white, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2019 International Women's Day, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2019 Defining tradition the colurists, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2019 Landscape Colours, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle 2018 Earth's Creation 2: Emily Kame Kngwarreye & Family, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2017 Gems from the Stockroom, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2017 A SWEEP continues, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane 2017 Sacred Marks, JGM Gallery, London 2017 Utopia - The artists of Delmore Downs, Yaama Ganu Gallery, Moree 2016 Utopia Sisters - The Petyarre Women, Delmore Gallery with RedSea Gallery, Brisbane 2015 Wynners, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2011 Aboriginal Art Collectors' Gallery, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2010 New Beginnings, Central Art - Aboriginal Art Store, Alice Springs (touring Germany) 2009 A decade of Australia’s indigenous fine art 1999-2009, Salt Gallery, Queenscliff, VIC 2009 Size Matters, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2009 5th Shalom Gamarada Aboriginal Art Exhibition, University of NSW, Sydney 2009 Abstraction, Utopia Art, Sydney 2008 Three Petyarres, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2008 Gooch's Utopia, Flinders University, Adelaide 2007 The Petyarre Sisters 2007, Central Art - Aboriginal Art Store, Alice Springs 2006 A Survey, Utopia Art, Sydney 2006 National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC, USA 2006 Utopia, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne 2006 National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC 2004 Power of The Land, Utopia Art, Sydney 2004 Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle 2004 Curtin University of Technology, Perth 2004 Ivan Dougherty Gallery, COFA, NSW 2004 The Women's Show, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne 2004 Utopia: Gloria, Barbara, Minnie, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne 2003 Glen Eira City Gallery, Melbourne 2003 Chapel off Chapel, Melbourne 2003 National Gallery of Victoria at Federation Square, Melbourne 2002 Light Square Gallery, Adelaide 2002 Singapore Art Museum, Singapore 2002 Knut Grothe Galeri, Charlottlenlund, Copenhagen 2002 Two Thirds Sky, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre, NSW 2002 The Utopia Six, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne 2002 Royal Exhibition Hall, Melbourne 2002 Gallery Rai, Tokyo, Japan 2002 Chapel off Chapel, Melbourne 2002 National Gallery of Victoria at Federation Square, Melbourne 2001 Icons of Australian Aboriginal Art, Singapore 2001 Brisbane City Gallery, Brisbane 2001 Kunst der Gegenwart, Vienna, Austria 2001 Manawatu Gallery, New Zealand 2000 Australian National University, Canberra 2000 FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane 2000 Australian National University, Canberra 2000 Old Parliament House, Canberra 2000 Royal Exhibition Hall, Melbourne 1999 Bush Garden, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle 1999 My Dreaming, Redrock Gallery, Melbourne 1999 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne 1999 Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth 1999 Embassy of Australia, Washington, U.S.A. 1999 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, U.S.A. 1999 New England Regional Art Museum; 1999 Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth 1999 New Leaves, Utopia Art, Sydney 1999 Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney 1999 Utopia, BMG Art, Adelaide 1999 Arts d'Australie, Bastille, Paris 1999 Sherman Galleries, Sydney 1998 The Anangkere Growth Paintings, Chapman Gallery, Canberra 1998 Annandale Galleries, Sydney 1998 Exhibitions in Europe inc. Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland 1998 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs 1998 Chapman Gallery, Canberra 1998 The Adelaide Festival Theatre, Adelaide 1998 Propositions Australiennes, Galerie Luc Queyrel, Paris 1997 Australian Galleries, Sydney 1997 Instant Pictures, Utopia Art, Sydney 1997 Galerie de Stassart, Bruxelles 1997 Sutton Gallery, Melbourne 1999 Sherman Galleries, Sydney 1996 Seoul Arts Centre, Korea 1996 Old Parliament House, Canberra 1996 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne 1996 William Mora Galleries, Melbourne 1996 Royal Exhibition Hall, Melbourne 1996 S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney 1995 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne 1995 Mitchell Galleries, State Library of NSW, Sydney 1995 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 1995 Aboriginal and Tribal Art Centre, Sydney 1995 Canberra Museum of Art, Gifu, Japan 1995 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 1995 Powerhouse Museum, Sydney 1995 Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney 1994 Utopia Art, Sydney 1994 Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 1994 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne 1994 Royal Exhibition Hall, Melbourne 1994 Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney 1993 Art Gallery of Queensland, Brisbane 1993 Austral Gallery, St Louis, U.S.A. 1993 Australian Embassy, Paris, France 1993 Myra Morgan Gallery, Kansas, U.S.A. 1992 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne 1992 Royal Exhibition Hall, Melbourne 1992 Gallery Rai, Tokyo, Japan 1992 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 1992 The Body Paint Collection, Bishop Museum, Hawaii 1992 The Body Paint Collection, toured USA 1992 Robert Homes a'Court Collection, Bangkok, Thailand 1991 S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney 1991 Art Gallery of NSW 1991 Australia Galleries, New York 1991 Meat Market Gallery, Melbourne 1990 Utopia, exhibited in Ireland, U.K., India 1990 Orange Regional Gallery, Orange NSW 1990 Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide 1990 Third Eye Centre, Glasgow 1989 A Summer Project, S.H.Ervin Gallery, Sydney 1989 Utopia Batik, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs 1989 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 1989 Coventry Gallery, Sydney 1989 Austral Gallery, St Louis, U.S.A. 1988 Bloomfield Gallery, Sydney 1984 First National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin Awards and Recognition 2021 Gloria's portrait by R. Ian Lloyd features in daily tours during Reconciliation Week, which highlights some remarkable, resilient and inspirational Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the collection, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra 2020-2021 A portrait of Gloria Petyarre by R. Ian Lloyd features in the exhibition 'Before hand: The private life of a portrait' at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra National Portrait Gallery 2009 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney - Finalist 2009 Kings School Art Prize, Sydney - Winner 2008 25th NATSIAA, Darwin - Finalist 2007 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney - Finalist 2006 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney - Finalist 2005 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney - Finalist 2004 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney - Finalist & Highly Commended 2004 Fremantle Print Award 2004, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle - Finalist 2003 20th NATSIAA, Darwin - Finalist 2002 Redlands Westpac Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney - Finalist 2000 5th National Indigenous Heritage Art Award 2000, (Reconciliation Prize), Old Parliament House, Canberra - Finalist Canberra, ACT 2000 Top 50 Collectable Artists, Australian Art Collector Magazine 1999 Top 50 Collectable Artists, Australian Art Collector Magazine 1999 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney - Winner 1996 The Third National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Art Award, Old Parliament House, Canberra - Finalist 1996 Full Fellowship Grant, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Board, the Australia Council 1994 Tapestry Commission for the Law Courts, Brisbane 1993 Design for tapestry for Victorian Tapestry Workshop 1993 Mural for Kansas City Zoo Collections • Allen, Allen & Hemsley • Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney • Art Gallery of Queensland, Brisbane • Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide • Artbank, Sydney • Australian National Gallery, Canberra • Baker and McKenzie Collection • British Museum, London, U.K • Campbelltown City Art Gallery, Campbelltown, NSW • Flinders University, Adelaide • Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Gold Coast, QLD • Griffith University Collection, Queensland • James D. Wolfensohn Collection • Kaplan and Levi Collection, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle • Macquarie Group Collection • Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria • Museum of Victoria, Melbourne • Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin • National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria • Powerhouse Museum, Sydney • Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane • Singapore Art Museum, Singapore • Supreme Court Collection, Brisbane, Queensland • The Holmes a Court Collection • University of New South Wales Collection, Sydney • University of the Sunshine Coast Collection, Queensland • University of Woollongong, Woollongong • Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, U.S.A • Westpac Gallery, New York, USA • Woollongong City Art Gallery, Woollongong • Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney • Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne • Sarrita King Collection • Fetzer Family Collection, Germany • Luciano Benetton Collection, Venice • Pat Corrigan Collection, Sydney • The Kelton Collection, Santa Monica, USA • Musee du quai Branly, Paris • National Gallery of Australia, Canberra • Donald Holt Collection, Australia • Janet Holt Collection, Australia • Levi Collection, Seattle, Canada

Creator:

Gloria Petyarre (1945, Aboriginal Australian)

Creation Year:

1994

Dimensions:

Height: 50.79 in (129 cm)Width: 38.19 in (97 cm)

Medium:

Canvas,Acrylic

Movement & Style:

Contemporary

Period:

1990-1999