Willy Tjungurrayi 


Born:                  1936 c
Region:                Western Desert
Community Centre:      Kintore, Papunya, Haasts Bluff
Country:               Patjantja, south west of Kintore
Language Bloc:         Western Desert
Language:              Pintupi
Social Affiliations:   Tjungurrayi subsection

Medium:        Acrylic paint on canvas 
Subjects:      Tingari, Kuniya at Karrilwarra. 

Collections:
Artbank, Sydney.
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra.
The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth.
The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, U.S.A.


Exhibitions:
Group Exhibitions: 
1982, Georges Gallery, Melbourne.
1982, Brisbane Festival, 1982, Mori Gallery, Sydney
1983, Papunya: paintings from the Central Australian Desert, 
touring exhibition, America and Europe.
1985, Dot and Circle, a retrospective survey of the Aboriginal 
acrylic paintings of Central Australia, Royal Melbourne Institute 
of Technology, Melbourne
1987, Art and Aboriginality, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK
1988, Australian Aboriginal Graphics from the Collection of the 
Flinders University Art Museum.
1989, Aboriginal Art: The Continuing Tradition, National Gallery of 
Australia, Canberra
1991, The Painted Dream: Contemporary Aboriginal 
Paintings from the Tim and Vivien Johnson Collection, Auckland Art 
Gallery and Te Whare Taonga o Aoteroa National Art Gallery, New Zealand
1994, Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen 
Centre, Alice Springs.
1994, Yiribana, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.



Select Bibliography:
Butler, R., 1986, 'From dreamtime to machine time,' Imprint 21(3-4), 10. (C) 

Crocker, A. (ed.), 1981, Mr Sandman Bring Me a Dream, Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, 
Alice Springs and Aboriginal Artists Agency Ltd, Sydney. (C) 

Johnson, V.,1987, Art and Aboriginality, exhib. cat., Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK 
Kean, J., 1993, Yarnangu Ngaanya at PICA, FAR, June/July 1993 

Johnson, V., 1994, The Dictionary of Western Desert Artists,Craftsman House, East 
Roseville, New South Wales. (C) 

Maughan, J., and Zimmer, J., (eds), 1986, Dot and Circle, a Retrospective Survey of 
the Aboriginal Acrylic Paintings of Central Australia, exhib. cat., Communication 
Services Unit, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne. (C) 

Neale, M., 1994, Yiribana, exhib. cat., Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. (C)



© Discovery Media, Documentation Pty Ltd, and the Australian 
Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies


Notes:
Born at Patjantja, south-west of Lake Mackay, c.1936. 
Willy was raised by Charlie TARAWA, who was Willy's father's brother. 
Willy was raised 'in the bush'-'naked' with 'only nulla nulla and woomera'. 
It was Charlie's camels which eventually brought the family in to Haasts Bluffin the 
late '50s and from there to Papunya. 
Willy began painting for Papunya Tula Artists in 1976 during the '80s since emerged 
as one of the senior Pintupi painters. 
His country lies a short distance to the south west of Kintore, around Kulkuta, 
Tjukula, Warrabri, Malka, Yumari, Tjitikulpa and Patjanytja. 
In the early '80s he joined the move back to the Pintupi homelands and now lives 
with his family in Kintore. 

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