Gloria Petyarre
Encyclopedia
Gloria Petyarre is an Australian Aboriginal
artist
from the Anmatyerre
community, just north of Alice Springs
. She is a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art
.
Gloria Petyarre won Australia's longest running art prize, the Wynne Prize
in 1999 with Leaves, being the first Aboriginal person to win one of the Art Gallery of New South Wales
's major prizes. She travelled to Ireland
, England
and India
in 1990 as part of the Utopia – A picture story exhibition. She held her first solo exhibition in 1991. She is represented in major Australian galleries such as the National Gallery of Australia
. She is the niece of Emily Kngwarreye
and the younger sister of Kathleen Petyarre
, two noted
Aboriginal artists.
Gloria lived at the Utopia
community after 1977, where she started batik painting, exhibiting in shows around Australia for ten years. She began work on the 'Summer Project' in 1989 which involved translating the batik paintings onto canvas. She was one of the founding members of this Utopia Women's Batik Group. She paints several Dreamtime
stories such as Pencil Yam
, Bean
, Emu
and Mountain Devil Lizard and Small Brown Grass. Her paintings – monochromatic or multi-colored - are distinguishable for their well defined segments filled with curved lines, and evoke a strong rhythmic quality. Her style has evolved into abstract fields that represent leaves, grasses and bodypaint.
Her work is represented in such collections as:
In 1999, Gloria Petyarre was awarded the prestigious Wynne Prize for Landscape Painting.
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
from the Anmatyerre
Anmatyerre
Anmatyerr, are an Indigenous Australian people, or language group, from the Northern Territory. They are from an area near Arnka , Arwerlt Atwaty Anmatyerr, are an Indigenous Australian people, or language group, from the Northern Territory. They are from an area near Arnka (Mount Leichhardt),...
community, just north of Alice Springs
Alice Springs, Northern Territory
Alice Springs is the second largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice", Alice Springs is situated in the geographic centre of Australia near the southern border of the Northern Territory...
. She is a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art
Contemporary Indigenous Australian art
Contemporary Indigenous Australian art is the modern art work produced by Indigenous Australians. It is generally regarded as beginning with a painting movement that started at Papunya, northwest of Alice Springs, Northern Territory in 1971, involving artists such as Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri...
.
Gloria Petyarre won Australia's longest running art prize, the Wynne Prize
Wynne Prize
The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. One of Australia's longest running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne...
in 1999 with Leaves, being the first Aboriginal person to win one of the Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Art Gallery of New South Wales , located in The Domain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was established in 1897 and is the most important public gallery in Sydney and the fourth largest in Australia...
's major prizes. She travelled to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 1990 as part of the Utopia – A picture story exhibition. She held her first solo exhibition in 1991. She is represented in major Australian galleries such as the National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...
. She is the niece of Emily Kngwarreye
Emily Kngwarreye
Emily Kame Kngwarreye was an Australian Aboriginal artist from the Utopia community in the Northern Territory. She is one of the most prominent and successful artists in the history of contemporary Indigenous Australian art.-Life:Born in 1910, Kngwarreye did not take up painting seriously until...
and the younger sister of Kathleen Petyarre
Kathleen Petyarre
Kathleen Petyarre is an eminent Australian Aboriginal artist, known for her paintings displaying an extremely refined layering technique with intricate dotting. Her art refers directly to her country and her Dreamings, concepts that may be difficult to grasp for the non-Aboriginal viewer...
, two noted
Aboriginal artists.
Gloria lived at the Utopia
Utopia, Northern Territory
Utopia is an Aboriginal homeland formed in November 1978 by the amalgamation of the former Utopia pastoral lease with a tract of unalienated land to its north. It covers an area of 3500 square kilometres, transected by the Sandover River, and lies on a traditional boundary of the Alyawarra and...
community after 1977, where she started batik painting, exhibiting in shows around Australia for ten years. She began work on the 'Summer Project' in 1989 which involved translating the batik paintings onto canvas. She was one of the founding members of this Utopia Women's Batik Group. She paints several Dreamtime
Dreamtime
In the animist framework of Australian Aboriginal mythology, The Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation.-The Dreaming of the Aboriginal times:...
stories such as Pencil Yam
Yam (vegetable)
Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania...
, Bean
Bean
Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
, Emu
Emu
The Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three subspecies of Emus in Australia...
and Mountain Devil Lizard and Small Brown Grass. Her paintings – monochromatic or multi-colored - are distinguishable for their well defined segments filled with curved lines, and evoke a strong rhythmic quality. Her style has evolved into abstract fields that represent leaves, grasses and bodypaint.
Her work is represented in such collections as:
- The National Gallery of Australia
- The Art Gallery of New South Wales
- Allen, Allen and Hemsley
- Victorian Museum
- Museums and Art Gallery of the Northern Territories
- Powerhouse Museum
- Westpac Collection, New York,
- Gold Coast City Art Gallery
- The Holmes a’ Court Collection.
In 1999, Gloria Petyarre was awarded the prestigious Wynne Prize for Landscape Painting.