Australian landscape watercolours- a legacy of Albert Namatjira

Exhibiting in the Gort Framing Studio is a collection of landscape watercolours of western Australia, painted in the style of the Hermannsburg School. 

 This movement originated in Alice Springs in the 1970s , bringing to fame Albert Namatjira. These paintings are by his contempories, both emerging and established artists. 

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The Hermannsburg School is an art movement, or art style, which began at the Hermannsburg Mission in the 1930s. The best known artist of the style is Albert Namatjira. The movement is characterised by watercolours of western-style landscapes that depict the often striking colours of the Australian outback.

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Located 125 km west of Alice Springs, in Central Australia, Hermannsburg was founded by Lutheran missionaries in 1877. The Western Arrernte people have lived in this region for thousands of years. In 1941 Rex Battarbee founded the Aranda Art Group, which controlled the supply of materials and helped handle the business affairs of the emerging artists.

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The Hermannsburg painters' work is characterised by soft hues, usually water colours, of their Western Arrernte landscape, which European settlers named the Western Macdonnell Ranges. Previously, Western Arrernte people had only used art in a ceremonial sense, as topographical interpretations of their country and their particular Dreamings, painted using symbols

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Early works by Albert also conveyed this spiritual connection with the land. They shared an intimate knowledge of the land on which they had lived for thousands of years. The Ghost Gum features prominently in the works, a sacred and important part of Western Arrernte mythology.

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The paintings exhibited here were created across a range of 40 years or so, from the 1970s to the present day. The Hermannsburg style continues to develop and there are many established and emerging artists painting today.

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Exhibition runs through April and May 2018. Paintings are for sale and sales help support these emerging artists .