|
|
Article: Pictures from dreamtime. (Australian aborigine art)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- August 31, 1991
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
SOME of the world's most distinguished painters, increasingly recognised as such in New York, Sydney and London, are Australian aborigines, mostly living in small communities in the great Western Desert. Their settlements at Ngukurr ("the place of many stones"), Groote Eylandt (a centre of painting on bark) and Papunya, have become art colonies which may one day be as familiar in art history as Montmartre and St Ives. The current "big names" of aboriginal art, notably Clifford Possum and Billy Stockman, whose works regularly fetch L30,000[Brit. pounds] ($50,000) and more, are not faddish, ephemeral superstars. Their work is born out of a cultural tradition which is more ...