The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens presents “The Mysteries that Remain,” a survey of works by Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, one of Australia’s most acclaimed Indigenous artists. This collection of paintings is an exploration of the ancestral narratives of his desert homeland executed in a modern, abstracted style. “The Mysteries that Remain” is on view until Jan. 12.
“This exhibition invites the viewer to reflect on Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri’s journey of perseverance and innovation nourished by a deep connection to his heritage," said Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, George W. and Kathleen I. Gibbs director and CEO of the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens. “‘The Mysteries that Remain’ is a survey of masterful works that provide us all the opportunity to celebrate this important artist, whose works are featured in public and private collections throughout Australia, America and Europe.”
Tjapaltjarri (c. 1923 – 1998) was a Pintupi man, born at Marnpi, a site about 330 miles west of Alice Springs. Raised with knowledge of desert survival skills and ancestral traditions, he worked in the cattle industry before starting to make paintings in the 1970s. As the Australian government transitioned its policies towards Aboriginal affairs from assimilation to self-determination, the Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd was formed to encourage the creation and marketing of art. Namarari was a founding shareholder of the longest-running Aboriginal-owned art business in Australia.
The collection of works tracks Tjapaltjarri’s progress from his iconographic and ritually explicit works of the 1970s to more abstracted landscapes of the 1990s. It shows Tjapaltjarri to be an artist who grasped the creative challenge of painting for the art market while never losing sight of the ancestral underpinnings of his country.
Despite their alluring colors and designs, these paintings retain their mystery, hinting at the spiritual world beyond the painted image. This exhibition sheds new light on this enigmatic and important artist as he moved from detailed figurative works to grand abstractions. A quiet, reserved man, “The Mysteries that Remain” places Tjapaltjarri in his rightful place as contemporary master.
This exhibition is organized by the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia.
2024 Cummer Museum of Arts & Gardens Exhibition Presenters include: Season Presenters — City of Jacksonville, Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and Ronald and Karen Rettner; Presenting Sponsor — State of Florida; Lead Sponsors — The Robert D. Davis Family Endowment and The Schultz Family Endowment.
