Angelina Pwerle

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Angelina Pwerle
Bornc. 1946[1]
NationalityAustralian Aboriginal
Known forPainting
MovementIndigenous Australian Art

Angelina Pwerle (pronounced 'Pull-uh')[2] is an Australian Aboriginal artist, born c. 1946 in the Utopia region of Central Australia.[3] Her work is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[4] the National Gallery of Australia[5] and other institutions.

Work[]

Bush Plum, 2007
(122 x 332 cm)

Angelina Pwerle began working with batik in 1986 as part of the Utopia Women’s Batik Group, alongside Emily Kame Kngwarreye and others.[3] She took up the medium of acrylic paint on canvas in the Australian summer of 1988-9.[6]

The work she has produced since 1989 can be divided into three main styles: abstract, naive and ritual.[3] Within the abstract style, she paints two series: 'Bush Plum' and 'Aharlper Country'. Her naive work consists of depictions of the Atham-areny spirit people. Her ritual work consists of woodcarvings that reflect her deep knowledge of ceremony.

Pwerle's first solo exhibition took place at Niagara Galleries in Melbourne in 1996.[1] She continues to exhibit with the gallery, most recently with the show Bush Plum and Beyond in 2021.[7] She has also painted for Delmore Gallery since 1989.[8]

Pwerle's work appeared in Hosfelt Gallery's 20th Anniversary Exhibition in San Francisco alongside works by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ed Ruscha.[9] She has also been the subject of solo shows at Hosfelt Gallery in 2013 and 2018.[10]

Pwerle is the subject of the 2012 documentary film Bush Plum: The Contemporary Art of Angelina Pwerle.[11]

Her work was featured in the exhibition Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia, which toured the United States and Canada in 2016–2019.[12]

In the book published alongside the exhibition, former National Gallery of Victoria curator[13] Anne Marie Brody writes: "[Pwerle's] works are, like the late masterpieces of Mark Rothko or Claude Monet, deep crystallizations at the far frontier of creative endeavor."[14]

Bush Plum paintings[]

Bush Plum, 2019
(151 x 151 cm)

Pwerle's best-known works are a depiction of her country's 'Bush Plum' (anwekety) Dreaming.

These canvases characteristically feature an intense concentration of tiny dots which produce the effect of movement or shadows across the surface.[6]

Pwerle uses a wooden skewer to make these minuscule marks on the surface of her canvases.[15]

Writing for Forbes, Jonathon Keats says the paintings "map territorial geography in terms of where the fruit can be found, while simultaneously representing songlines and ceremonies that outsiders will never know."[16]

The New Orleans Advocate says Pwerle's Bush Plum series demonstrates "how Aboriginal art captures the infinite in observations of the small and particular."[17]

In 2022, National Gallery of Australia director Nick Mitzevich told the Financial Times: "The way her practice has developed is extraordinary. She has refined the Central Desert dotting technique and used it to create abstract visions that are quite distinct from those made by her contemporaries."[2]

Pwerle herself describes her practice as "a constant engagement" and "a spiritual connection to place."[2]

Works in major collections[]

Institutions that hold two or more works by Pwerle include:

  • Metropolitan Museum of Art[4]
  • National Gallery of Australia[5]
  • Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco[18]
  • National Gallery of Victoria[19]
  • Art Gallery of New South Wales[20]
  • Art Gallery of South Australia[21]

Personal life[]

Pwerle speaks only her native Anmatyerre and rarely leaves the Utopia region.[2]

She is also sometimes known by the first name Angeline and the surnames Ngal, Ngale and Kngale.[22] There is some dispute amongst Australian art dealers about which names are correct.[23] However, most institutions, including the National Gallery of Australia and Sotheby's, now refer to her as Angelina Pwerle.[24]

Speaking to Art Monthly Australasia in 2016, Pwerle herself explained: "Pwerle is the same as Ngale, just in another language."[3] In Alyawarr country, Angelina is referred to as Pwerle, and in Anmatyerre country she is referred to as Ngale.

She is the younger sister of artists Kathleen Ngale and Polly Ngale.

External links[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Angelina Pwerle artist CV" (PDF). Niagara Galleries. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d Stapleton, Dan F. (28 January 2022). "In praise of Australian Aboriginal art – 'the oldest surviving culture in the world'". Financial Times. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d Schmidt, Chrischona. "Angelina Pwerle: An artist from Utopia". Art Monthly Australasia (292): 34–39. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  4. ^ a b "The Metropolitan Museum of Art search results". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  5. ^ a b "National Gallery of Australia artist page". searchthecollection.nga.gov.au. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Angelina Pwerle Ngala on Eastern Desert Art". Eastern Desert Art. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Bush Plum and Beyond". Niagara Galleries. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  8. ^ "Angeline Kngale (Ngale) Biography and CV". Delmore Gallery. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  9. ^ "20th Anniversary Exhibition – Hosfelt Gallery". hosfeltgallery.com. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  10. ^ "Angelina Pwerle – Hosfelt Gallery". hosfeltgallery.com. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  11. ^ "Bush Plum: The Contemporary Art of Angelina Pwerle (2012) – The Screen Guide – Screen Australia". www.screenaustralia.gov.au. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  12. ^ "Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia". www.phillipscollection.org. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  13. ^ "Anne Marie Brody". Fremantle Press. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  14. ^ Brodie, Anne Marie (1 August 2016). "Angelina Pwerle: Bush Plum Odysseys". In Skerritt, Henry F. (ed.). Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia. Prestel. p. 83. ISBN 978-3-7913-5591-7.
  15. ^ "Angelina Pwerle – Niagara Galleries". Niagara Galleries. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  16. ^ Keats, Jonathon. "Secret Maps And Sacred Landscapes: The Phillips Presents 68 Spectacular Artworks By Aboriginal Women". Forbes. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  17. ^ D'Addario, John. "Infinite Possibility: Australian Aboriginal women's art reaches across the miles". The New Orleans Advocate. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  18. ^ "Angelina Pwerle". FAMSF. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  19. ^ "National Gallery of Victoria artist page for Angelina Pwerle". Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  20. ^ "Works by Angelina Pwerle, Art Gallery of NSW". www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  21. ^ "Angelina Ngal Pwerle". AGSA - Online Collection. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  22. ^ "Angeline Ngale". Delmore Gallery. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  23. ^ "Angelina Ngale Pwerle". Cooee Art. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  24. ^ "Sotheby's Aboriginal Art". Sotheby's. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
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