JOHN KIPARRA TJAKAMARRA

Painted at Papunya in November/December 1971
Acquired by Mr Ron Collins, editor of Geoff Bardon's first film on the Pintupi entitled The Richer Hours, completed in 1971
Private collection, Queensland, acquired from the above

Bardon, G., Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert, Rigby Limited, Adelaide, 1979, pp.60, 61, illus. p61
Bardon, G., Papunya Tula Art of the Western Desert, McPhee Gribble, Victoria, 1991, pp.94, 95, illus p.94
Bardon, G. and Bardon J., Papunya, A Place made after the Story; The Beginnings of the Western Desert Paintings Movement, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Publishing, 2004, p.208, illus painting 114 and illus p.92 as chapter frontispiece.

The painting is in good and stable condition overall. The surface has a multitude of minor scuffs and scratches dispersed overall consistent with those often found on early Papunya paintings. These scuffs and scratches should be clearly visible in the reproduction. The work is housed in a minmalist black box frame. The painted surface area appears stable.
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Geoffrey Bardon describes the artist as having 'a gentle, somewhat ascetic manner' (Bardon, 1979, p.60) that is reflected in the artist's highly graphic but stark paintings. This depicts a Pintupi ceremonial ground design set against a monochromatic ground. The men are shown as the U-shapes adjacent to the roundels representing fires, which are joined by tracks.

The fact that this work was reproduced by Bardon in all three of his publications on the Western Desert art movement suggests that he held the painting in the highest regard.