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Yannima Tommy Watson Art

Australian, b. 1935
Yannima Tommy Watson is a Pitjantjatjara artist born around the 1930s, in the bush some 44km west of the small isolated community of Irrunytju. His participation in the architectural project of the Musée du Quai Branly make him considered as the greatest living Aboriginal artist. Like many aborigines of his generation, he lived a traditional, nomadic or semi-nomadic life before his contact with Western civilization; then he will occupy the only jobs that the Aborigines find: herdsmen (until Yuendumu), laborers for the construction of infrastructures in the desert. Throughout this period he became familiar with his "country", a harsh region, and deepened his knowledge, both profane and sacred, relating to Dreams and Dreamtimes, to the connections between sacred sites and the Ancestors. He will even work in Papunya, where the artistic movement started. But the Pijantjarra are intransigent with tradition…no question at this time of revealing the motives and the secret stories. The North of South Australia, the region where he is from, was touched by the pictorial movement only at the very beginning of the 2000s. In 2001, Tommy began his career as an artist in Irrunytju (Wingellina). Quickly, Tommy will find his way, a radically new style where color plays a major role. Very quickly, the iconography now well known by the artists of Yuendumu, or the Western Desert, Balgo or Lajamanu disappeared. The symbols are no longer there. As Rover Thomas, Emily Kame or Paddy Bedford had done before him, this is a real artistic revolution. For Tommy, it is not a question of describing his Dream (Caterpillar), the routes taken by the Ancestors. He concentrates on a site, a story, sometimes very profane, the memory of a meeting, of a hunting party, tries to condense his memories, the information of which he is the depositary, to add a poetic touch to it, sometimes melancholy, and this gives a painting with a very abstract aspect. It is a painting where the emotion is very present, undoubtedly less cerebral than the art of the neighbors of the north the Pintupi, like Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, George Tjungurrayi. Of course what distinguishes his work is the color, very little present in the Western Desert. The red, that of the initiates' headbands, which Tommy often wears, brings a very warm note to his compositions. Yellow, blue, orange and white, sometimes purple mauves come to mark the space, create zones and reinforce the luminosity. It is undoubtedly this mix of purity and bright colors that has led art critics to compare him to Rothko or Kandinski. The technique is also special. It can be compared to the paintings of Pintupi women. The dots, quite wide with Tommy, are deposited in thick layers, which sometimes, in the best works, touch to form a flat surface very rich in matter. But Tommy goes further, because by adding his colorful and luminous touch, he manages to transcend the traditional style of Aboriginal painters to switch to contemporary art.
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Artist: Yannima Tommy Watson
Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) Painting, Contemporary, Linen, 2010
Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) Painting, Contemporary, Linen, 2010

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) Painting, Contemporary, Linen, 2010

By Yannima Tommy Watson

Located in Miami, FL

Yannima Tommy Watson is a Pitjantjatjara artist born around the 1930s, in the bush some 44km west of the small isolated community of Irrunytju. Not yet very well known to the French ...

Category

2010s Contemporary Yannima Tommy Watson Art

Materials

Linen, Polymer

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) Painting, Contemporary, Linen, 2015
Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) Painting, Contemporary, Linen, 2015

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) Painting, Contemporary, Linen, 2015

By Yannima Tommy Watson

Located in Miami, FL

Yannima Tommy Watson is a Pitjantjatjara artist born around the 1930s, in the bush some 44km west of the small isolated community of Irrunytju. Not yet very well known to the French ...

Category

2010s Contemporary Yannima Tommy Watson Art

Materials

Linen, Polymer

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) Painting, Contemporary, Linen, 2010
Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) Painting, Contemporary, Linen, 2010

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) Painting, Contemporary, Linen, 2010

By Yannima Tommy Watson

Located in Miami, FL

Yannima Tommy Watson is a Pitjantjatjara artist born around the 1930s, in the bush some 44km west of the small isolated community of Irrunytju. Not yet very well known to the French ...

Category

2010s Contemporary Yannima Tommy Watson Art

Materials

Linen, Polymer

Yannima Tommy Watson "Ngayuku Ngura" - 91x122 cm -2013 - Aboriginal Art
Yannima Tommy Watson "Ngayuku Ngura" - 91x122 cm -2013 - Aboriginal Art

Yannima Tommy Watson "Ngayuku Ngura" - 91x122 cm -2013 - Aboriginal Art

By Yannima Tommy Watson

Located in PARIS, FR

Artist: Tommy Watson Yannima Pikarli (c.1935-2017) size: 91x122cm year: 2013 Acrylic on linen Aboriginal Art Provenance: Yanda Art, Australia (certificat) Aborigène Galerie Paris,...

Category

2010s Contemporary Yannima Tommy Watson Art

Materials

Acrylic

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) Painting, Contemporary, Linen, 2010
Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) Painting, Contemporary, Linen, 2010

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country) Painting, Contemporary, Linen, 2010

By Yannima Tommy Watson

Located in Miami, FL

Yannima Tommy Watson is a Pitjantjatjara artist born around the 1930s, in the bush some 44km west of the small isolated community of Irrunytju. Not yet very well known to the French ...

Category

2010s Contemporary Yannima Tommy Watson Art

Materials

Linen, Polymer

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country), Contemporary Abstract Painting, 2010
Ngayuku Ngura (My Country), Contemporary Abstract Painting, 2010

Ngayuku Ngura (My Country), Contemporary Abstract Painting, 2010

By Yannima Tommy Watson

Located in Miami, FL

Yannima Tommy Watson is a Pitjantjatjara artist born around the 1930s, in the bush some 44km west of the small isolated community of Irrunytju. Not yet very well known to the French ...

Category

2010s Contemporary Yannima Tommy Watson Art

Materials

Linen, Polymer

Untitled
Untitled

Untitled

By Yannima Tommy Watson

Located in Miami, FL

Yannima Tommy Watson is a Pitjantjatjara artist born around the 1930s, in the bush some 44km west of the small isolated community of Irrunytju. Not yet very well known to the French public, despite his participation in the architectural project of the Musée du Quai Branly, Tommy Watson is nevertheless often considered the greatest living Aboriginal artist. Like many aborigines of his generation, he lived a traditional, nomadic or semi-nomadic life before his contact with Western civilization; then he will occupy the only jobs that the Aborigines find: herdsmen (until Yuendumu), laborers for the construction of infrastructures in the desert. Throughout this period he became familiar with his "country", a harsh region, and deepened his knowledge, both profane and sacred, relating to Dreams and Dreamtimes, to the connections between sacred sites and the Ancestors. He will even work in Papunya, where the artistic movement started. But the Pijantjarra are intransigent with tradition…no question at this time of revealing the motives and the secret stories. The North of South Australia, the region where he is from, was touched by the pictorial movement only at the very beginning of the 2000s. In 2001, Tommy began his career as an artist in Irrunytju (Wingellina). He is a young artist… He learns by observing other painters and draws on the experiences of a long life and on the exceptional knowledge he has stored up. But quickly he will find his way, a radically new style where color plays a major role. Very quickly, the iconography now well known by the artists of Yuendumu, or the Western Desert, Balgo or Lajamanu disappeared. The symbols are no longer there. As Rover Thomas, Emily Kame or Paddy Bedford...

Category

2010s Contemporary Yannima Tommy Watson Art

Materials

Linen, Polymer

Ngayuku Kgura (My Country)
Ngayuku Kgura (My Country)

Ngayuku Kgura (My Country)

By Yannima Tommy Watson

Located in Miami, FL

Yannima Tommy Watson is a Pitjantjatjara artist born around the 1930s, in the bush some 44km west of the small isolated community of Irrunytju. Not yet very well known to the French public, despite his participation in the architectural project of the Musée du Quai Branly, Tommy Watson is nevertheless often considered the greatest living Aboriginal artist. Like many aborigines of his generation, he lived a traditional, nomadic or semi-nomadic life before his contact with Western civilization; then he will occupy the only jobs that the Aborigines find: herdsmen (until Yuendumu), laborers for the construction of infrastructures in the desert. Throughout this period he became familiar with his "country", a harsh region, and deepened his knowledge, both profane and sacred, relating to Dreams and Dreamtimes, to the connections between sacred sites and the Ancestors. He will even work in Papunya, where the artistic movement started. But the Pijantjarra are intransigent with tradition…no question at this time of revealing the motives and the secret stories. The North of South Australia, the region where he is from, was touched by the pictorial movement only at the very beginning of the 2000s. In 2001, Tommy began his career as an artist in Irrunytju (Wingellina). He is a young artist… He learns by observing other painters and draws on the experiences of a long life and on the exceptional knowledge he has stored up. But quickly he will find his way, a radically new style where color plays a major role. Very quickly, the iconography now well known by the artists of Yuendumu, or the Western Desert, Balgo or Lajamanu disappeared. The symbols are no longer there. As Rover Thomas, Emily Kame or Paddy Bedford had done before him, this is a real artistic revolution. For Tommy, it is not a question of describing his Dream (Caterpillar), the routes taken by the Ancestors. He concentrates on a site, a story, sometimes very profane, the memory of a meeting, of a hunting party, tries to condense his memories, the information of which he is the depositary, to add a poetic touch to it, sometimes melancholy, and this gives a painting with a very abstract aspect. It is a painting where the emotion is very present, undoubtedly less cerebral than the art of the neighbors of the north the Pintupi, like Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, George...

Category

2010s Contemporary Yannima Tommy Watson Art

Materials

Linen, Cotton Canvas, Acrylic

Pikarli - My Country
Pikarli - My Country

Pikarli - My Country

By Yannima Tommy Watson

Located in Miami, FL

Yannima Tommy Watson is a Pitjantjatjara artist born around the 1930s, in the bush some 44km west of the small isolated community of Irrunytju. Not yet very well known to the French public, despite his participation in the architectural project of the Musée du Quai Branly, Tommy Watson is nevertheless often considered the greatest living Aboriginal artist. Like many aborigines of his generation, he lived a traditional, nomadic or semi-nomadic life before his contact with Western civilization; then he will occupy the only jobs that the Aborigines find: herdsmen (until Yuendumu), laborers for the construction of infrastructures in the desert. Throughout this period he became familiar with his "country", a harsh region, and deepened his knowledge, both profane and sacred, relating to Dreams and Dreamtimes, to the connections between sacred sites and the Ancestors. He will even work in Papunya, where the artistic movement started. But the Pijantjarra are intransigent with tradition…no question at this time of revealing the motives and the secret stories. The North of South Australia, the region where he is from, was touched by the pictorial movement only at the very beginning of the 2000s. In 2001, Tommy began his career as an artist in Irrunytju (Wingellina). He is a young artist… He learns by observing other painters and draws on the experiences of a long life and on the exceptional knowledge he has stored up. But quickly he will find his way, a radically new style where color plays a major role. Very quickly, the iconography now well known by the artists of Yuendumu, or the Western Desert, Balgo or Lajamanu disappeared. The symbols are no longer there. As Rover Thomas, Emily Kame or Paddy Bedford had done before him, this is a real artistic revolution. For Tommy, it is not a question of describing his Dream (Caterpillar), the routes taken by the Ancestors. He concentrates on a site, a story, sometimes very profane, the memory of a meeting, of a hunting party, tries to condense his memories, the information of which he is the depositary, to add a poetic touch to it, sometimes melancholy, and this gives a painting with a very abstract aspect. It is a painting where the emotion is very present, undoubtedly less cerebral than the art of the neighbors of the north the Pintupi, like Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, George...

Category

2010s Contemporary Yannima Tommy Watson Art

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Acrylic, Linen

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Yannima Tommy Watson art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Yannima Tommy Watson art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of red and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Yannima Tommy Watson in acrylic paint, canvas, cotton canvas and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Yannima Tommy Watson art, so small editions measuring 31 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of David Hinchliffe, Campbell la Pun, and Maureen Chatfield. Yannima Tommy Watson art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $13,000 and tops out at $20,500, while the average work can sell for $16,750.