George Milpurrurru

George Milpurrurru (1934-1998), Ganalbingu (Yolngu) painter from the Arafura wetlands, was one of the most important bark painters of the twentieth century. Milpurrurru was a member of an eminent art family; his father, Dick Ngulmarrmar, taught him to paint on bark, his sister is the artist Dorothy Djukulul and John Bulunbulun was a kinsman. Milpurrurru was a member of the Gurrumba Gurrumba (‘flock of geese’) clan; frequent motifs in his work are the flying foxes, magpie geese, crocodiles, tortoises and pythons that abound in his country. In 1979, he and David Malangi became the first indigenous artists to exhibit at the Biennale of Sydney. As a senior artist he painted nine burial poles for the Aboriginal Memorial of the National Gallery of Australia, which was unveiled at the Biennale of Sydney in 1988. From then on, he also painted on canvas and paper. He was the first living Aboriginal artist to be honoured with an individual show - at the National Gallery of Australia in 1993. That year Milpurrurru and Others v. Indofurn became an important case in the history of application of copyright to indigenous arts. The National Gallery of Australia has scores of Milpurrurru’s works on bark; a group of his paintings featured prominently in the National Museum of Australia exhibition Old Masters: Australia’s Great Bark Artists in 2014.

Purchased 2005
© Martin van der Wal