Clifford Possum, a Painter of Aboriginal Masterworks, around 70
DGH
Clifford Possum, who painted some of the masterpieces of Australian
aboriginal art, died on June 21, 2002, in Alice Springs in the
Australian desert, an ancient landscape he depicted in the mythical
terms central to his heritage at about the age of 70, the details of his
death and the long illness that preceded it and his exact age not being
disclosed by his family.
Mr. Possum, known among the Ammatyerre people as Kumuntjayi
Tjapaltjarri, was the first Australian aboriginal artist to gain
international recognition. He cleared the paths to artistic and economic
success that many indigenous painters have followed since the 1970's by
invoking sources and spiritual beliefs thought to be many thousands of
years old.
Since 1974, Mr. Possum's paintings, mixing symbolism and abstraction,
have been shown in solo and group exhibitions and sold to major
galleries and collections in Australia, the United States, Europe and
Asia.
His work had its first public exhibition in the United States in 1980,
in Los Angeles, California. His first major New York, New York,
exhibition was in a group show at the Asia Society in 1988.
In the United States, his work is in the collections of the Kelton
Foundation in Santa Monica, Calif., the Lowe Art Museum at the
University of Miami [Florida], and the Pacific Asia Museum in Los
Angeles.
On June 24, five of his works were sold in Melbourne at Sotheby's
Australia for more than $20,000 each; one, "Love-Sun Dreaming," was
bought by private collectors for $60,000.
The record auction price for a Possum painting is $68,000, paid by an
Australian public gallery last year for one of his earliest works, a
1972 landscape. At the time he painted it, some of his depictions of
what is known as the Dreaming, a legendary time akin to creation or
Genesis in other cultures, were selling for less than $50.
Although works by other aboriginal artists have sold for much higher
prices, Mr. Possum essentially made them possible.
Art historians here trace his birth to about 1932 in a desert tribal
community that was making a difficult transition from nomadism.
Mr. Possum, who adopted that name for nontribal use after a stay in the
1940's at a Christian mission where he was nursed for malnutrition,
began painting after 15 years of work on a cattle ranch. Earlier, he had
shown skill at carving snakes and lizards in wood.
At Papunya, a remote government settlement for the desert people, a
teacher, Geoffrey Bordon, encouraged aborigines to counter feelings of
alienation by recording traditional images and themes in modern media,
like acrylic paint on hardboard and later on canvas. This was the cradle
of the Desert Painters movement in aboriginal art. In 1971 the artists
formed a cooperative; Mr. Possum was chairman for 10 years.
Dr. Vivien Johnson, a historian of indigenous art at Macquarie
University in Sydney, wrote that Mr. Possum quickly showed himself to be
"an accomplished and inventive artist, an exponent of striking
multilayered visual effects, meticulously rendered."
Tim Klingender, director of the indigenous art department of Sotheby's
Australia, said that many collectors and galleries rated Mr. Possum
"high in the pantheon of aboriginal painters" for his "innovative visual
language and complex narratives of myths."
In June, the Australian government awarded Mr. Possum the Order of
Australia medal for his service to the art movement and to the
indigenous people.
Manipulative art dealers and forgers, one of whom was convicted, marred
his later years. He also experienced personal problems after moving from
his desert community in 1985 to the bustling township of Alice Springs.
Critics and collectors rate his numerous works since the 1980's below
his achievements in the 70's, and his scarcer earlier canvases draw
higher prices.
Mr. Klingender estimated that several such works in private American
collections would bring about $500,000 each if sold at auction now.
Louis Epstein
: .
: Clifford Possum, who painted some of the masterpieces of Australian
: aboriginal art, died on June 21, 2002, in Alice Springs in the
: Australian desert, an ancient landscape he depicted in the mythical
: terms central to his heritage at about the age of 70, the details of his
: death and the long illness that preceded it and his exact age not being
: disclosed by his family.
: Mr. Possum, known among the Ammatyerre people as Kumuntjayi
: Tjapaltjarri,
The name The Times (of London) used for him was
"Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri",as noted (possibly
misspelled) in the "Aboriginal Death Note" thread.
: was the first Australian aboriginal artist to gain
: international recognition. He cleared the paths to artistic and economic
: success that many indigenous painters have followed since the 1970's by
: invoking sources and spiritual beliefs thought to be many thousands of
: years old.
The AP omitted his name,saying that was local custom;
the NYT his exact age,saying that was local custom;
the Times obit had both.
-=-=-
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