Ewald Namatjira

1930–84

Central Australia comes vividly to life in the Western Aranda watercolours of Albert Namatjira and his followers that were greatly admired by the general public during the 1940s and 1950s for their clarity of sunlight, intense colours and faithful observation. The public, starved of access to the ‘red centre’, warmed to these powerful images of the heart of their continent although blithely unaware of the Hermannsburg artists’ deep spiritual affinity with this land and the sacred narratives it holds.

Ewald Namatjira, the third son of Albert and Rubina Namatjira, was a delicate child who Albert took on many of his painting trips and taught bushcraft. During the 1940s Ewald was taught to paint by Rex Battarbee and he responded immediately, showing flair and originality. Shortly afterwards, while he was playing with a rifle at Albert’s painting camp at Areyonga, the weapon discharged accidentally and a bullet lodged in Ewald’s brain. His recovery was almost miraculous, but the surgeon had to remove an eye. According to Battarbee, he suffered greatly after the accident, evident in some of the dark, brooding works of the late 1940s.

This work, formerly entitled The Centre, depicts the artist’s country, the rocks and mountains of the Western MacDonnell Ranges, in sunlight. This particular view, with vivid red foreground rocks and small acacias and eucalypts in the middle ground, enables the artist to capture a broad sweep of country, unencumbered by a monolithic ghost gum. The painting with its fluid handling of heat and shadow reveals Ewald’s penchant for brilliant reds, blues, purples and oranges—the colours that predominate in his homelands, the ‘arid interior’ of what has been called a ‘sunburnt country’.

Judith Ryan