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Pansy Smith Napangardi B.1948

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Pansy Napangardi is a Australian Aboriginal renowned artist. Pansy has been painting from the beginning of the 70’s, she was one of the major artists painting in the Papunya Tula Artists and held exhibitions. In 1989 Pansy won the prestigious Australian National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award and was selected in 1993.

Pansy and her sister, Eunice (1950-2005) gain knowledge from the Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula and Kaapa Tjampitjinpa both celebrated artists. Pansy Napangardi work is in collections around the world including The Collection of Arnaud Serval PARIS (Bird Dreaming).

Pansy Napangardi
Love Dreaming
Synthetic Polymer paint on Belgian linen

Image Size: 180 cm x 85 cm
Framed Size: 220 x 125 cm

PRICE: Enquire

Related Works
Love Dreaming is the Story and the Glory of Love. Love Dreaming has the sheer physical presence of the much contemporary work of art, with almost a multi-dimensional aspect of space and depth.  

Painted with fascinating accuracy and intricate details, Love Dreaming builds up a mysterious topography of the Lovers meetings places.

This is the story of the journeys of one man who loved two Kungkakutjara Women. The painting is a statement of love, fertility, spirituality of the fertile Rainbow Snake.

The man sung and danced for love to come, and he created passages so that the fertile Rainbow Snake could also visits this area. The man visits were accompanied by the fertile Rainbow Snake.

The Rainbow Serpent has a significant role in cultural beliefs in Aboriginal Mythology, that represents divinity and blesses the Earth. It was believed the Snake was responsible for the Earth fertility, giving life, causing nature to prosper, blessing abundance and women fertility. Rainbow Serpent is an immortal God being creating abundance of Life.

Pansy Smith Napangardi

Pansy Napangardi Biography

Pansy Napangardi is a Australian Aboriginal renowned artist.  

Pansy Napangardi was born circa 1948 and grew up at Haast Bluff in Central Australia.

"When I was a young girl, we always travelled around a lot. We'd go to a swimming hole, hunting or gathering bush tucker. Later on, I saw my uncle painting and I asked him, 'Can you tell me my mother's dreaming? I want to put them down.' "

They told Pansy the stories and showed her in the sand how to depict them. She practised on paper and later used her designs to do collages made up with the ininti seeds from which the women used for making jewellery.

As Pansy gained experience in this form, she moved into her forte', acrylic on canvas. Since that time Pansy's paintings have inspired world acclaim. Today Pansy is considered one of the foremost artists from Alice Springs.

Although it has been said that Aboriginal women have only been painting since the 1980's, Pansy states that she, like her sister Eunice Napangardi, commenced painting much earlier in the 70’s working for Papunya Tula Artists.

Pansy began recording her Dreamings in the early 1970's at the start of the Papunya Art Movement.

By observing Johnny Warangkula and Kaapa, two established artists, Pansy's style emerged. Unlike many other women artists now associated with the Papunya Tula Artists she did not serve an apprenticeship, but began painting for herself. At the time the resources were the province of the senior initiated men that started the movement. She sold her work privately through Alice Springs until 1983 when she started painting with the Papunya Tula Artists on a full-time basis.

Pansy's work gives voice to her traditional beliefs and symbolises a triumphal cultural statement by the once near defeated people of the Central Australian Desert.

Her paintings are remarkable with their use of colour. Blues, greens and pinks create a spiritual vigour and nervous energy that excite the eye. They are refreshing with their striking vitality and exploring diversity. Her paintings represent the fertility and glory of her traditional land, making a statement about the relationship of her people and the land.

Pansy is an artist who constantly experiments and surprises. Her close contact with Non-Aboriginal Australians has progressed her in her search for new rhythms and frontiers yet she always remains firm within the confines of Aboriginal traditions.

Her work was seen at the 1988 Brisbane expo as well as the cover of 'The Inspired Dream', which was published at the same time. She has had several solo exhibitions, one of them at the Sydney Opera House, followed by the Gallery Gabrille Pizzi. Her work is featured in many group exhibitions including Richard Kelton Foundation collection, 'Mythscapes' at the National Gallery Canberra and the 'Karnta' exhibition at the New South Wales Art Gallery.

Pansy moved to Alice Springs in 1989. In 1989 Pansy won the 6th National Aboriginal Art Award and in 1993 won the Northern Territory Art Award.

Australian Aboriginal Artists dictionary of biographies is a meticulously researched biographical dictionary hard cover 446 pages book containing over 1000 entries with colour illustrations of the artists best work with a brief biography and relevant exhibition entries.

Pansy childhood was abundant with artistic influence and cultural teachings. Pansy remember her grandparents story-telling Dreamings and teaching her how to depict them by drawing in the sand.

Pansy learnt her father’s Dreamings from artist Rennie Robinson which include Bush Banana, Water Snake, Marlu [Kangaroo], Cockatoo, Bush Mangoes and Willy Wagtail.

However Pansy mother’s Dreamings  include Seven Sisters, Hail, Luritja Country, Desert Raisin and the important Kungkakutjara 'Two Women', Pansy has learned from her mother’s cousin.

In the 1960’s Pansy moved to Papunya where she learnt from artists such as Johnny Warangkula and Kaapa Tjampitjinpa creating Aboriginal masterpieces. At this stage, Pansy began to paint progressing to collages which featured Ininti Seeds [traditionally used in ceremonial jewellery].

Unlike many female Aboriginal artists Pansy did not apprentice a male painter but she developed her own unique style independently.

By the 1970’s Pansy was working and selling her artworks in Alice Springs, later disengaging from this sphere and re-assumed her painting career in the early 1980’s. In 1983 Pansy commenced work with Papunya Tula Artists and by the late 1980’s had established herself as a leading female artist.

Pansy Napangardi is one of the foremost Australian artists. From 1960 Pansy gain knowledge from most celebrated Australian artists Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula (1918-2001) and Kaapa Tjampitjinpa (1920-1989) nonetheless Pansy has developed her own unique style. Pansy Napangardi has been a major painter in the Papunya Tula movement in the 70's.

After Pansy got married (about a decade before Papunya started supplying women artists with their own painting supplies), Pansy moved to Alice Springs. She sold her paintings independently until the mid-1980s.

In 1989, Pansy returned to Papunya and won the National Aboriginal Art Award and a solo exhibition at the Sydney Opera House followed the same year. Another followed with Gabrielle Pizzi Gallery in Melbourne. 

1993 Australian National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (selected)

Homes a Court Collection

The Kelton Foundation Santa Monica USA

The Kerry Stokes Collection

Selected Exhibitions

1987  Queensland National Art Gallery

1988 'Dot Painting The Inspired Dream' Queensland National Art Gallery Brisbane

1988, Sydney Opera House.

1989  Queensland National Art Gallery

1989, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne.

1988  Expo, Brisbane

1988 Sydney Opera House, Sydney

1989 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

1989  Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory

1989  Gallery Gabrille Pizzi

1990 'Friendly Country - Friendly People'

1991  Gallery Gabrille Pizzi

1991 'Karnta' Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

1991 Queensland National Art Gallery

1992 Harewood House Trust, England

1993 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs

1993  Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory

1994 National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne

1994 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs

1998 National Gallery London

2000 travelling exhibition in Washington DC USA and Australia, also Museum & Art Gallery Northern Territory (Darwin), Australian National Gallery Canberra, Victorian Art Centre, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne

2007 – St-art European Art Fair, Artists displayed:, Lucky Morton Kngwarreye, Walangari Karntawarra Jakamarra, Ningie Nangala, Susie Hunter Petyarre, Andrea Martin Nungarrayi, Josephine Napurrula, Pansy Napangardi, Galuma Maymuru, Julie Robinson Nangala, Milminya Dhamarrandji, Alick Tipoti, Samson Bonson, Eddie Aning-Mirra Kerry, Haleema Djorlom, Bronwyn Kelly, James Iyuna, Stephen Kawurlkku, Arts d'Australie, Stephane Jacob, Strasbourg, France; Papunya Painting – Out of the desert, National Museum of Australia, Canberra.
2004 – Art Aborigine Pour Tous, Galerie DAD, Mantes-la-Jolie, France; Kuniya Pilkarti, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne; Mythology and Reality – Contemporary Aboriginal Desert Art from the Gabrielle Pizzi Collection, Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne.
2000 Arts d’Australie, Arts d'Australie , Stéphane Jacob / Galeries Lafayette, Paris; Papunya Tula: Genisus and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
1999 – Salon Grands et jeunes d’Aujourd’hui, Arts d'Australie , Stéphane Jacob / Espace Eiffel Branly, Paris.
1997 L’Art des Aborigènes d’Australie, Arts d'Australie , Stéphane Jacob / Galerie de Stassart, Bruxelles; L’Art des Aborigènes d’Australie, Arts d'Australie , Stéphane Jacob / Espace Paul Riquet, Béziers.
1994, Dreamings – Tjukurrpa: Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert; The Donald Kahn collection, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich; 1994, Jukurrpa Artists, Australian Heritage Gallery, Watson, ACT; 1994, Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs; 1994, The Eleventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; 1994, Power of the Land, Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria.
1993/4, ARATJARA, Art of the First Australians, Touring: Kunstammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf; Hayward Gallery, London; Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark.
1993, Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Kung Gubunga, Oasis Gallery, Broadbeach,Qld; 1993, Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs; 1993, The Tenth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; 1993, Ten years of acquisitions,from ANU collection, Drill Hall Gallery ACT; 1993, Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs.
1991/92, Friendly Country, Friendly People, Touring Exhibition, through Araluen Centre, Alice Springs.
1991, Australian Aboriginal Art from the Collection of Donald Kahn, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, USA; 1991, Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, High Court, Canberra; 1991, Aboriginal Women's Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
1990, l'ete Australien a' Montpellier, Musee Fabre Gallery, Montpellier, France.; 1990, National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome.
1989, Mythscapes, Aboriginal Art of the Desert, National Gallery of Victoria; 1989, The Sixth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
1988, The Inspired Dream, QAG, Brisbane.; 1988, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne.
1988, ANCAAA and Boomalli, Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Ko-operative, Sydney.
1987, The Fourth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
1987, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne.

Australian Aboriginal Art from the Collection of Donald Kahn, 1991, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, USA
Caruana, W., 1993, Aboriginal Art, Thames and Hudson, London. (C)
Crossman, S. and Barou, J-P. (eds), 1990, L'ete Australien a Montpellier: 100 Chefs d'Oevre de la Peinture Australienne, Musee Fabre, Montpellier, France. (C)
Crumlin, R., (ed.), 1991, Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, Collins Dove, North Blackburn, Victoria. (C)
Isaacs, J., 1989, Australian Aboriginal Paintings, Weldon Publishing, New South Wales.
Johnson, V., 1994, The Dictionary of Western Desert Artists, Craftsman House, East Roseville, New South Wales. (C)
1993, Aratjara, Art of the First Australians: Traditional and Contemporary Works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists, exhib. cat. (conceived and designed by Bernard Luthi in collaboration with Gary Lee), Dumont, Buchverlag, Koln. (C)
Ryan, J., 1989, Mythscapes Aboriginal Art of the Desert from the National Gallery of Victoria, exhib. cat., National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. (C)
West, M. (ed.), 1988, The Inspired Dream, QAG, Brisbane.
1988, ANCAAA and Boomalli, exhib. cat., Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Ko-operative, Sydney. (C)
1991, Aboriginal Women's Exhibition, exhib. cat., Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
Bardon, Geoffrey; Ryan, Judith; Pizzi, Gabrielle; Stanhope, Zara., Mythology and Reality – Contemporary Aboriginal Desert Art from the Gabrielle Pizzi Collection, Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne.
Johnson, Vivien.(Editor), Papunya Painting: Out of the Desert, National Museum of Australia, Canberra, 2007.

Pansy close contact with Non-Aboriginal Australians has progressed her in her search for new rhythms and frontiers yet she always remains firm within the confines of Aboriginal traditions. Pansy Napangardi began working  from 1960 and as an independent artist working for herself since the early 70's. The resources of Papunya Tula Artists at this time were exclusively the province of the senior initiated men who began the painting enterprise.

Pansy independently sold her works in Alice Springs. She worked in this manner for about five years followed by a long break. In 1983 she resumed painting, working for Papunya Tula Artists. Pansy Napangardi paintings are is in high demand and she is represented in major public collections throughout the world.

During the late 80's Pansy Napangardi emerged as Papunya Tula's foremost women artist. Her work was included in the company's display at the 1988 Brisbane Expo and also featured on the cover of The Inspired Dream catalogue of a major survey of Aboriginal Art shown at the same time at the Queensland Art Gallery.

Pansy has had number of solo exhibitions. The first one was at the Sydney Opera House in September 1988 promoted by the Centre for Aboriginal Artists (for whom she still paints for occasionally). The second showing occurred at the Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi in Melbourne in May 1989 promoted by Papunya Tula Artists.

In 1989 Pansy Napangardi won the sixth National Aboriginal Art Award. She showed again at the Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi in late 1991 and also in Brisbane with EUNICE Napangardi in early 1992. Her work has appeared in several major surveys of Aboriginal art, including 'Mythscapes' at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1989 and 'Karnta', a show of Aboriginal women's work at the Art Gallery of NSW in 1991.

Pansy Napangardi is considered one of the foremost Australian artists. Pansy is a major painter in what is today known as the Papunya Tula movement. Although it has been said that Aboriginal women have only been painting since the 1980's, Pansy states that she, like her sister Eunice Napangardi (c1950-2005), commenced painting earlier.

Pansy Napangardi  (a Luritja/Warlpiri decent) was born at Haasts Bluff in the late 1940 during the early years of mission settlement and was moved with the settlement to Papunya in the early 1960s. She is from the Warlpiri language group. Pansy is one of the rare women associated with Papunya Tula who did not serve an apprenticeship with the men. She sold her works independently in Alice Springs at first, but during the 1980s she became the pre-eminent woman painter at Papunya Tula, winning the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) in 1989. She is associated with the Jukurrpa group of women artists in Alice Springs where she lives today.

From 1960 Pansy lived in Papunya where she observed older artists like Johnny WARANGKULA and KAAPA Tjampitjinpa. Pansy Napangardi began recording her Dreaming in the early 1970's at the start of the Papunya Art Movement. By observing Johnny Warangkula and Kaapa, two established artists, Pansy's developed her own unique style.

Pansy Napangardi began working for herself from the early 70's. Pansy independently sold her works in Alice Springs and in 1983 she resumed painting, working for Papunya Tula Artists. During the late 80's Pansy Napangardi emerged as Papunya Tula's foremost women artist. Her work was included in the company's display at the 1988 Brisbane Expo and also featured on the cover of The Inspired Dream catalogue of a major survey of Aboriginal Art shown at the same time at the Queensland Art Gallery. She has had two solo exhibitions. The first one was at the Sydney Opera House in September 1988 promoted by the Centre for Aboriginal Artists (for whom she still paints for occasionally). The second showing occurred at the Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi in Melbourne in May 1989 promoted by Papunya Tula Artists.

Pansy Napangardi work was seen at the 1988 Brisbane expo as well as the cover of 'The Inspired Dream', which was published at the same time. She has had several solo exhibitions, one of them at the Sydney Opera House, followed by the Gallery Gabrille Pizzi. Her work is featured in many group exhibitions and is represented in collections around the world including Richard Kelton Foundation collection, 'Mythscapes' at the National Gallery Canberra and the 'Karnta' exhibition at the New South Wales Art Gallery.

Pansy showed again at the Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi in late 1991 and also in Brisbane with EUNICE Napangardi in early 1992. Her work has appeared in several major surveys of Aboriginal art, including 'Mythscapes' at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1989 and 'Karnta', a show of Aboriginal women's work at the Art Gallery of NSW in 1991.  

Pansy Napangardi Style

Pansy's work gives voice to her traditional beliefs and symbolizes a triumphal cultural statement by the once near defeated people of the Central Australian Desert. Her paintings are remarkable with their use of colour. Blues, greens and pinks create a spiritual vigor and nervous energy that excite the eye. They are refreshing with their striking vitality and exploring diversity.

Pansy Napangardi paintings often represent the fertility and glory of her traditional land, making a statement about the relationship of the her people and the land. Pansy is an artist who constantly experiments and surprises. Her close contact with Non-Aboriginal Australians has progressed her in her search for new rhythms and frontiers yet she always remains firm within the confines of Aboriginal traditions.

Pansy Napangardi has a son and four other adopted children, the youngest of whom she now lives with in Alice Springs. Pansy attends literacy classes at IAD with many of the other women from the Tjukurrpa painting group. Her sister Alice Napangardi is married to artist Dinny NOLAN and lives in Papunya. Her younger brother BROGAS TJAPANGATI also paints for the Papunya Tula Artists and the Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery.

Pansy father and grandfather are Warlpiri tribesmen and were born at Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs), west of Papunya. Pansy paints; Bush Banana, Water Snake, Seven Sisters, Hail, Desert Raisin and Two Women, Kangaroo, Cockatoo, Bush Mangoes and Willy Wagtail. Her mother who was Luritja was born at the site of Illpili. Pansy mother's cousin taught Pansy the Dreamings from her mother's side of the family. Napangarti’s grandparents first showed her how to depict her inherited stories 'Dreamings' by drawing them in the sand. Napangarti was born in Haast Bluff in central Australia. She bases her work on the traditional Dreamings handed down through her family. Unlike other aboriginal women artists, Napangarti did not serve an apprenticeship by working on the paintings of her male relatives. Instead, she forged her own distinctive style in the 1970s and is now represented in major collections across the world. Pansy recalls her grandmother and grandfather telling her stories about her Dreamings and also showing her how to depict them by drawing them in the sand. She practiced on paper and later used her designs to do collages comprised of glue and the 'ininti' seeds from which the women usually made necklaces.

Warlpiri artist, Pansy Napangardi moved to Alice Springs in 1989. "When I was a young girl we always travelled around a lot. We'd go to a swimming hole, hunting or gathering bush tucker. Later on I saw my uncle painting and I asked him, 'Can you tell me my mother's dreaming? I want to put them down.' " They told her the stories and showed her in the sand how to depict them. She practised on paper and later used her designs to do collages made up with the 'ininti' seeds from which the women used for making jewellery. As she gained experience in this form, she moved into her forte', acrylic on canvas. Since that time Pansy's paintings have inspired world acclaim.

 

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