Ronnie Tjampitjinpa was born in Pintupi land at Muyinnga, about 100 kilometres west of the Kintore Range, just across the Western Australian border. He is the son of Uta Uta Tjangala’s older brother, Minpuru Tjangala (c.1899–1976).
After his initiation into Pintupi law at the site of Yumari, Tjampitjinpa and his younger brother Smithy Zimran Tjampitjinpa walked into the Aboriginal community of Yuendumu. They later joined their parents and other siblings – who had come in to Ikuntji (Haasts Bluff) in 1956 from the Dover Hills/Yumari area – at the new settlement of Papunya. Tjampitjinpa worked as a labourer, assisting with the fencing of the aerodromes at Papunya and Ikuntji. He was one of the youngest of the group of men who began painting at the start of the Western Desert art movement in 1971, and was a founder of Paunya Tula Artists.
During the 1970s, Tjampitjinpa was preoccupied with returning to his traditional lands and became a strong advocate for the outstation movement, travelling between meetings in Papunya, Yuendumu, Wirrimanu (Balgo) and Mount Doreen Station. His goal was finally achieved with the establishment of the Walungurru (Kintore) settlement in 1981. Tjampitjinpa moved there with his young family in 1983, establishing an outstation at Ininti (Redbank) and serving as chairman of the Kintore Outstation Council. During this period, he emerged as one of Papunya Tula Artists’ major painters, pioneering the bold, scaled-up, linear style that came to dominate many of the Walungurru painters’ work during the 1990s. His distinctive aesthetic preoccupation is exemplified in the untitled works of 1994 and 2001. He was one of the last founding members of Papunya Tula Artists, Tjampitjinpa’s career spans more than 40 years. He had six solo exhibitions since 1989 in Australia, most recently at Utopia Art, Sydney.
Sadly, Ronnie passed away in June of 2023.
COLLECTIONS:
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
Robert Holmes a Court
Medibank Private Collection
Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Darwin
Artbank
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
Donald Khan, U.S.A.
Richard Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, U.S.A.
Musee National des Arts Africains et Oceaniens, Paris, France
Groninger Museum, The Netherlands
EXHIBITIONS:
1982 Brisbane Festival, Brisbane
1983 Mori Gallery, Sydney
1986 Galerie Dusseldorf, Germany
1986 Aboriginal Arts Australia, Canberra
1987, 1988, 1989, 1993, 1996 Gallery Gabriella Pizzi, Melbourne
1988 Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
1988 Expo '88, Brisbane
1991, 1993, Chapman Gallery, Canberra
1991 Australian National Gallery, Canberra
1991 Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, U.S.A.
1992 Aboriginal Artists Agency, Sydney
1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998 Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
1992 Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat
1993 Art Gallery of N.S.W., Sydney
1993 Art Museum, Armidale, N.S.W.
1993 Art Gallery of W.A., Perth
1994 National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1994 Utopia Gallery, Sydney
1994 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Milan and Palermo, Italy
1994 Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany
1995 Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
1996 - 2006 Twenty-Five Years and Beyond: Papunya Tula Painting, Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
1998 Jinta Gallery, Sydney
1999 - 2001 Spirit Country, San Francisco, touring
1999 Flinders Art Museum Flinders University, Adelaide
1999 Embassy of Australia, Washington, U.S.A.
1999 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, U.S.A.
2000 Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia, Melbourne
2000 Papunya Tula Genesis and Genius, Australia Gallery, N.S.W.
2001, 2003 Chapel off Chapel Gallery, Melbourne
AWARDS:
1988 Alice Springs Art Prize
