Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri

Women Sitting around the Fire at Sunset

c. 1973–74

Having observed watercolor artists, Leura thinned his paints to achieve transparency, allowing the medium to find its own way through the warp and weft of the canvas. Sometimes, as is the case with Women Sitting around the Fire at Sunset (c. 1973–74), he applied layers of paint wet on wet to encourage the accidental mixture of colors and textures. The poetic intent in Leura’s paintings—how they relate to the verses of ancestral songlines—is a deep pool, yet to be plumbed.

John Kean

Language Group: Anmatyerr
Dates: 1929-1984

Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri was born in Napperby Creek and moved to Papunya in the late 1950s with his wife and their family. Before painting for Papunya Tula Artists in 1971, Tim Leura was recognized as a talented craftsman. His paintings are known for their atmospheric, fog-like effects, which he accomplished by using washes of paint or dotting onto wet surfaces. He is also recognized for incorporating human figures into his paintings. His painting Kooralia (1980) toured with the landmark exhibition Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia in 1988. This piece was later illegally copied onto carpets and sparked the landmark Aboriginal carpets copyright case (Milpurruru et al. v. Indofurn P/L) of 1995-96. With the rise of Aboriginal Australian art in the international market and the resulting debates on how to distribute the painting's profits, Tim Leura would maintain that “the money belongs to the ancestors.”

TIM LEURA TJAPALTJARRI, Women Sitting around the Fire at Sunset, c.1973–74

Synthetic polymer paint on canvas board. 27 1/2 × 24 in. (69.9 × 61 cm). Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia, Gift of John W. Kluge, 1997. 1993.0006.005.

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