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australiaconcept:era contemporary

Warlugulong — Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (1976)

Large-scale acrylic on canvas painting by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (c.1932-2002) and Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, created at Papunya in 1976. Dimensions: 168.5 cm x 170.5 cm. Held at the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra, accession 1980.1665). Warlugulong depicts multiple overlapping Dreaming stories centered on the Fire Dreaming at Warlugulong (a site north of Alice Springs), combined with Love Magic, Seven Sisters, and Wild Potato stories in a single complex multi-layered composition. The work is exceptional for its compositional ambition — integrating at least eight Dreaming narratives across the canvas — and its technical mastery of the dot painting method. It was acquired by the NGA in 1980 for AUD $1,200.

Scholarly Significance

Anchor the Australian Aboriginal dot painting tradition through Warlugulong (1976) by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri — the most significant and complex early Papunya Tula work and a landmark in Australian art history.

Notes

  • ·Warlugulong is widely considered the most complex and ambitious work to emerge from the early Papunya Tula movement. It integrates multiple Dreaming narratives (Fire Dreaming, Love Magic, Seven Sisters, Wild Potato Dreaming) in a single multi-centered composition.
  • ·The dot painting technique derives from ceremonial sand and body painting traditions; at Papunya (1971-1972), Geoffrey Bardon encouraged men to translate these traditions to board and canvas.
  • ·The work was created in collaboration with Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri (1929-1984), Clifford Possum's brother, who contributed sections relating to his custodial Dreaming knowledge.
  • ·The NGA's purchase in 1980 for AUD $1,200 is now a notable art market comparison: similar works by Clifford Possum have since sold for AUD $1-2 million at auction.
  • ·The work was featured in major exhibitions including 'Aboriginal Art' (1981, NGA) and 'Traditions of Aboriginal Art' and is reproduced in virtually every major survey of Australian art.
  • ·The topographic map-like structure of Warlugulong — site-circles connected by path-lines representing Dreaming routes — is both aesthetically powerful and a literal sacred geographic record.