Paddy Bedford
Encyclopedia
Paddy Bedford (b. circa 1922 – 14 July 2007) was a major contemporary Indigenous Australian art
ist from Warmun in the Kimberley, and one of eight Australian artists selected for an architectural commission for the Musée du Quai Branly
.
Life for Bedford, like his parents, was hard and shaped by the harsh racial politics of early 20th century Australia. His parents survived but were displaced by incidents that involved the killing of Indigenous people. Bedford was at one stage sent to a leprosarium, despite not having leprosy. When he married Emily Watson and had children, the children were taken away to a mission.
Bedford, like many of the Indigneous men in the Kimberley, worked as a stockman, but was paid in rations. When the law in 1969 required equal pay for black and white alike, station owners responded by laying off their Indigneous workforce, including Bedford. He worked for a while on road building, but ended up forced on to welfare by injury.
in 2006–07.
Bedford's painting is loosely representational of landscape, and was influenced by the work of Rover Thomas
. Although, like much of central and western desart art, it is strongly influenced by traditional techniques and iconography
, it also addresses black-white relationships and historical events in his country.
Bedford was survived by an extended family, including daughters Kathy and Theresa.
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...
ist from Warmun in the Kimberley, and one of eight Australian artists selected for an architectural commission for the Musée du Quai Branly
Musée du quai Branly
thumb|225px|Musée du quai BranlyThe Musée du quai Branly , known in English as the Quai Branly Museum, nicknamed MQB, is a museum in Paris, France that features indigenous art, cultures and civilizations from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. The museum is located at 37, quai Branly -...
.
Life and family
Bedford was born in the East Kimberley around 1922 at a property which gave him his surname – Bedford Downs. The station's owner Paddy Quilty was the source of Bedford's given name, but Bedford's judgement of Quilty was at best forgiving, and could be harsh. Quilty was reputed to have been involved in a massacre of Indigenous people in the region before Bedford's birth, and Bedford's response to an invitation to visit Quilty's grave was "Why should I go see that old fucking bastard?".Life for Bedford, like his parents, was hard and shaped by the harsh racial politics of early 20th century Australia. His parents survived but were displaced by incidents that involved the killing of Indigenous people. Bedford was at one stage sent to a leprosarium, despite not having leprosy. When he married Emily Watson and had children, the children were taken away to a mission.
Bedford, like many of the Indigneous men in the Kimberley, worked as a stockman, but was paid in rations. When the law in 1969 required equal pay for black and white alike, station owners responded by laying off their Indigneous workforce, including Bedford. He worked for a while on road building, but ended up forced on to welfare by injury.
Bedford's art
Bedford was familiar with body-painting as a young man. He commenced painting on canvas in around 1998, together with other artists from the Warmun / Turkey Creek locality, and encouraged by former gallerist Tony Oliver. Bedford was one several artists who own Jirrawun Arts, a company established to assist the development and sale of works by Indigenous artists from parts of the Kimberley. Bedford was the subject of a major catalogue and retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art, SydneyMuseum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
The Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia is an Australian museum solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting and collecting contemporary art, both from across Australia and around the world...
in 2006–07.
Bedford's painting is loosely representational of landscape, and was influenced by the work of Rover Thomas
Rover Thomas
Rover Thomas Joolama was an Indigenous Australian artist.-Early life:He was born at Gunawaggi in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia. At the age of 10 Rover and his family moved to the Kimberley where, as was usual at the time, he began work as a stockman...
. Although, like much of central and western desart art, it is strongly influenced by traditional techniques and iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
, it also addresses black-white relationships and historical events in his country.
Bedford was survived by an extended family, including daughters Kathy and Theresa.
Reading
- David Edwards, 'Out of the Centre', The Blurb, no. 77, 2007
- Jeremy Eccles, 'New frontiers for Indigenous art: Jirrawun Arts, East Kimberley', Art Monthly Australia, no. 178, April 2005
- Jeremy Eccles, 'Jirrawun: A unique model for Aboriginal art', Art & Australia, vol. 44, no. 1, 2006
- Linda Michael (ed.), Paddy Bedford, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2006
- Nicholas Rothwell, 'A dream of a studio', The Weekend Australian – Review, 21–22 July 2007, p. 9.