Albert Namatjira (28 July 1902 – 8 August 1959), born Elea Namatjira, was an Australian artist. He was a Western Arrernte man, an Indigenous Australian of the Western MacDonnell Ranges area. Albert Namatjira is perhaps the best known Aboriginal painter.
He is best known for his watercolour Australian outback desert landscapes, a style which inspired the Hermannsburg School of Aboriginal art. While his work is obviously the product of his life and...
more
Albert Namatjira (28 July 1902 – 8 August 1959), born Elea Namatjira, was an Australian artist. He was a Western Arrernte man, an Indigenous Australian of the Western MacDonnell Ranges area. Albert Namatjira is perhaps the best known Aboriginal painter.
He is best known for his watercolour Australian outback desert landscapes, a style which inspired the Hermannsburg School of Aboriginal art. While his work is obviously the product of his life and experiences, his paintings are not in the highly symbolic style of traditional Aboriginal art; they are richly detailed depictions.
He is also notable for being the first Northern Territory Aborigine to be freed from the restrictions of discriminatory legislation that made Aborigines wards of the State.
Born at Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission, near Alice Springs in 1902, Namatjira was raised on the Hermannsburg Mission and baptised after his parents' adoption of Christianity. He was born as Elea, but once baptised, they changed his name to...
less