Judy Napangardi Watson (c. 1925–2016), also known as Judy Watson Napangardi and Kumanjayi Napangardi Watson, was an Aboriginal Australian and a senior female painter from the Yuendumu community in the Northern Territory, Australia.
Life
Judy was born around 1925 at Yarungkanji on Mount Doreen Station. Her people, the Warlpiri, were living a traditional nomadic life at that time. They frequently made long journeys by foot to their ancestral country on the border of the Tanami and Gibson Deserts, and lived at Mina Mina and Yingipurlangu at different times.
She had ten children.
She died at Yuendumu on 17 May 2016.
Work
Napangardi started painting in the 1980s in a "dragged dotting" style. Her combination of vivid colour, highly detailed works and high-level composition led to widespread appreciation in the art world. Her paintings often describe the Mina Mina country. She was a member of the Warlukurlangu Artists community of Yuendumu.
Well known for the distinctive style of painting that she developed alongside her sister Maggie Napangardi Watson, who taught her painting skills, she was a significant contributor to contemporary Indigenous Australian art.
Galleries displaying her art
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- Aboriginal Art Museum [nl], Utrecht, Netherlands
- Gordon Darling Foundation, Canberra
- Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
- National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
- National Gallery of Victoria
- Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
- South Australian Museum, Adelaide
- Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
- Stamp Gallery of Art, College Park, Maryland, U.S.
References
- ^ "Judy Watson Napangardi Paintings & Artist Profile". Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
- "Mina Mina Jukurrpa II, 2003". NGV. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
- ^ "Judy Napangardi Watson". Warlukurlangu. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
- Gosford, Robert (19 May 2016). "Vale Judy Napangardi Watson, 1925–2016 - Warlpiri artist and force of nature - The Northern Myth". The Northern Myth. Archived from the original on 20 May 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
- ^ "Tradition and Transformation: Indigenous Art in the NGV Collection". National Gallery of Victoria. Archived from the original on 11 September 2009. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
- Newstead, Adrian (2014). The Dealer is the Devil: An Insiders History of the Aboriginal Art Trade. Sydney: Brandl & Schlesinger. p. 284. ISBN 9781921556432.
- Geissler, Marie (March 2008). "Judy Napangardi Watson". Craft Arts International.
- "Indigenous art seen as a sound investment". Reporter Paula Kruger talks to Tim Abdallah, national head of art at the auction house Deutscher-Menzies. ABC. 20 March 2008. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
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