GLORIA PETYARRE
Gloria Petyarre (b. 1942)
Leaves
90 X 31 cm
Details
46 X 38 cm
Acrylic on linen canvas
The Artist
Gloria Petyarre is widely considered to be one of the most significant Aboriginal artists living and working today and is renowned for her ‘bush medicine leaf’ paintings.
Gloria first came to attention when she won the ‘Wynne Prize for Landscape’ at the NSW gallery in 1999, the first Indigenous Australian to win a major art prize at the gallery. Her work is represented in the National Gallery of Australia and she is considered one of the most collectable indigenous artists.
Gloria was born in 1938, moving to the Utopia community in 1977. Originally she started batik painting and was one of the founding members of the Utopia Women's Batik Group. In 1988 the woman began painting their designs on canvas rather than fabric and the show that resulted toured notable galleries in Australia and drew international attention.
This success spawned the Utopian art movement and many of Australia’s foremost Indigenous artists hail from this area. Gloria is the niece of Emily Kngwarreye, the internationally acclaimed painter whose work has recently set records at auction.