Skip to content
  • 9am–5pm
  • Free general admission
  • Shop

This reference list was compiled by Libby Coates, National Museum of Australia Library, in September 2007. It includes some exhibition catalogues and reviews, but does not attempt to be a complete record of material related to Papunya works.

Although extensive, the reference list is necessarily a work in progress and we welcome suggestions of additional reading. Please contact the National Museum of Australia Library at library@nma.gov.au

Geoffrey Bardon, Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert, Rigby, Adelaide, 1979, p. 71.

Geoffrey and James Bardon, Papunya: A Place Made After the Story: The Beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement, Miegunyah Press, Carlton, 2004, p. 527.

Geoffrey Bardon and Judith Ryan, Papunya Tula: Art of the Western Desert, JB Books, Marlston, 1999, p. 140.

Patrick Corbally Stourton, Songlines and Dreamings: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Painting: The First Quarter—Century of Papunya Tula, Lund Humphries, London, 1996, p. 192.

Vivien Johnson, Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists, IAD Press, Alice Springs, 2008.

Vivien Johnson and National Museum of Australia, Papunya Painting: Out of the Desert, National Museum of Australia Press, Canberra, 2007.

Painting Culture: The Making of an Aboriginal High Art, Duke University Press, Durham, 2002.

Hetti Perkins and Margie West, One Sun One Moon: Aboriginal Art in Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2007.

Hetti Perkins, Hannah Fink and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales in association with Papunya Tula artists, 2000.

Susan Allan, 'Papunya Tula — the Birthplace of Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art', World Socialist Web Site, http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/aug2001/tula–a24.shtml, accessed March 2007.

Nadine Amadio, 'Papunya Art: A Disturbing Experience — Exhibition at Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs', Arts National, vol. 2 (2), Dec 1984, pp. 48–51.

Christopher Anderson and Françoise Dussart, 'Dreamings in Acrylic — Western Desert Art: Case Study of the Papunya and Yuendumu Communities of Painters', in Peter Sutton (ed.), Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia, Viking, Ringwood, 1988, pp. 89–142. National Museum of Australia Library.

Alan Attwood, 'Black Art Breaks into a White World', Time Australia, vol. 5 (29), 16 July 1990, pp. 54–61.

Geoffrey Bardon, in Sylvia Kleinert and Margo Neale (eds), The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2000. National Museum of Australia Library.

Ulli Beier, 'Papunya Tula Art: The End of Assimilation', Aspect (34), Aug 1986, pp. 32–37.

Tim Bonyhady, 'Papunya Stories', Australian Humanities Review (20), http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/AHR/archiv e/Issue–February–2001/bonyhady2.html, accessed March 2007. Now at: http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/AHR/archive/Issue–February–2001/bonyhady2.html

Susan Bridge, 'The Courts' Approach to Moral Rights', Copyright Reporter, vol. 3 (1), July 1985, pp. 2–4.

Tim Burke, 'Papunya — Aboriginal Art in the Central Australian Deserts', Stiletto (49), July 1988, pp. 52–54.

Elizabeth Burns Coleman, 'Appreciating "Traditional" Aboriginal Painting Aesthetically', Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 62 (3), 2004, p. 235.

Sally Butler, 'Disorientation, the Affect of Lockhart River's Indigenous Art', Eyeline (54), 2004, pp. 24–28.

Jane Cadzow, 'The Art Boom of Dreamtime', Australian, supp., pp. 1–2.

Fiona Carruthers, 'Broken Dreaming: the Division between Black and White', Australian Magazine, 16–17 Sept, 2000, pp. 20–26.

Paul Carter, 'Geoffrey Bardon, an Appreciation 1940–2003: Obituary', Art Monthly Australia (161), July 2003, pp. 14–15.

Gary Clark, 'Spirit Braille', Quadrant (Sydney), vol. 49 (5), May 2005, pp. 58–62, http://www.quadrant.org.au/php/article_view.php?articl e_id=1108, accessed March 2007. National Museum of Australia Library.

Gary Clark, 'Clifford Possum — Western Desert Art on the Walls of Araluen in the Northern Territory', Arts National, vol. 2 (6), July/Aug 1985, pp. 59–62.

Michael Fitzgerald, 'Dreaming in New Colors', Time Australia (3), 28 August 2000, p. 68.

Michael Fitzgerald, 'Cultural Production Line: the Greed of Exploitative Art Dealers and Venal Practitioners Threatens to Devalue the Currency of Aboriginal Art', Time Australia (20), 22 May 2006, pp. 60–61.

Michael Fitzgerald, 'Different Strokes: Authenticity in Aboriginal Art', Time Australia (30), 26 July 1999, pp. 72–75.

Michael Fitzgerald, 'Painting for their Lives', Time Australia (4), 11/29 2004, pp. 106–108.

Michael Fitzgerald, 'Focus on Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri & Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri at AGNSW', Australian Artist, vol. 15 (1), 06 1999, p. 4.

Alexander Frater, 'Aboriginal Art Blossoms in the Desert', Age, 10 July 1982, p. 11.

Jack Frawley, ‘Genesis and Genius (and Gymnastics): Another 'New Truth' of the Papunya Art Movement’, Ngoonjook (24), December 2003, pp. 39–46.

Faye Ginsburg and Fred Myers, 'A History of Aboriginal Futures', Critique of Anthropology, vol. 26 (1), 2006, p. 27.

Ian Green, ‘Make 'Im Flash, Poor Bugger: Talking about Men's Art in Papunya’, in West, MKC (ed.), The Inspired Dream: Life as Art in Aboriginal Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 1988), pp. 39–47, 111. National Museum of Australia Library.

Barry Hill, 'Mantric Maps: Lost and found', Voices (Canberra), vol. 2 (2), Winter 1992, pp. 74–84.

Jennifer Isaacs, 'Waiting for the Mob from Balgo: Aboriginal Art', Australian and International Art Monthly (1), June 1987, pp. 20–22.

Jennifer Isaacs, 'Circles, Tracks, and Lines', World & I, vol. 8 April 1993, p. 232.

Erica Izett, 'Sitting Down with Indigenous Artists', Artlink, vol. 25 (2), June 2005, pp. 26–29.

Tim Johnson, 'Tim Johnson Interviewed by Nicholas Zurbrugg', Art and Australia, vol. 29 (1), Spring 1991, pp. 44–51.

Tim Johnson, 'Paying the Rent', in Commonwealth Institute (ed.), Stories of Australian Art, The Institute, London, 1988, pp. 57–65.

Vivien Johnson, 'Twentieth Century Dreaming: Contemporary Aboriginal Art', Art and Asia Pacific, vol. 1 (1), Dec 1993, pp. 71–78.

Vivien Johnson, 'Maxie Tjampitjinpa: The Minimal Mythologist', Art and Text (50), 1995, pp. 54–59.

Vivien Johnson, 'George Tjapanangka', Art & Australia, vol. 40 Summer 2002, pp. 244.

Vivien Johnson, 'John Tjakamarra c.1932–2002', Art and Australia, vol. 40 (4), June–July–Aug 2003, p. 574.

Philip G Jones, ‘Arts and Manufactures': Inventing Aboriginal Craft', in Noris Ioannou (ed.), Craft in Society: An Anthology of Perspectives, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, South Fremantle, 1992.

Darren Jorgensen, 'Martian Utopias, Land Rights and Indigenous Desert Painting', Paper in: Futures Exchange: Antipodean Utopias, Elizabeth Leane (ed.), Australian Cultural History (23), 2004, pp. 105–119.

Keith Jabaldjari Jurra, 'The Historical Development of Papunya Community', Ngoonjook (18), Dec 2000, pp. 6–18.

Joan Kerr, 'Papunya Tula', Art AsiaPacific (3), 2001, p. 31. National Museum of Australia Library.

Richard Kimber, 'Ceremony from Ground to Canvas: A Switch of Dimension in Papunya', Artlink, vol. 13 (2), June/Aug 1993, pp. 40–44.  National Museum of Australia Library.

Richard Kimber, 'MN Tjapaltjarri', Art & Australia, vol. 36, 1999, p. 397.

Richard Kimber 'Papunya Tula: Artists of the Central and Western Deserts of Australia', Australian Art Review, 1982, pp. 122–125.

Sylvia Kleinert, 'The Meeting Place: Indigenous Art in a University Context', Ngoonjook (24), December 2003, pp. 58–66.

Andrei Kovalev, ‘From Red Centre to Red Square: Aboriginal Paintings from the Desert in Moscow', Art and Australia, vol. 29 (4), Winter 1992, pp. 435–437.

Ronald John Lambert, 'Dreaming in Ochre and Wood', Australian Connoisseur and Collector (2), 1982, pp. 80–83.

Robert Layton, 'Traditional and Contemporary Art of Aboriginal Australia: Two Case Studies: Papunya Artists and Pitjantjatjara Artists', in Jeremy Coote and Anthony Shelton (eds), Anthropology, Art, and Aesthetics, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992, pp. 137–159. National Museum of Australia Library.

Carrie Lumby, 'Ethically Collecting Aboriginal Art: The Moral Implications of the White Man's Market for Indigenous Art in the 21st Century', Australian Art Collector (29), July–Sept 2004, pp. 132–134. National Museum of Australia Library.

Susan McCulloch-Uehlin, 'Art from the Heart', Australian, 1995, Weekend Review, p. 10.

John McDonald, 'Dreamweaver: Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (c.1932–2002)', Australian Financial Review Magazine, Nov 2003, pp. 78–79, 81–82, 84.

Ian McLean, 'Kuninjku Modernism: New Perspectives on Western Arnhem Land Art', Artlink, vol. 25 (2), June 2005, pp. 48–51.

Humphrey McQueen,  'Divining Water Dreaming', Art Monthly Australia (134), Oct 2000, pp. 8–10.

John Vincent Stanley Megaw, 'Art as Identity: Aspects of Contemporary Aboriginal Art', in Allan Hanson and Louise Hanson (eds), Art and Identity in Oceania, Crawford House Press, Bathurst, 1990, pp. 282–292, 313–315. National Museum of Australia Library.

John Vincent Stanley Megaw, 'Transformations: Appreciation, Appropriation and Imagery in Indigenous Australian Art', in Anita Herle (ed.), Pacific Art: Persistence, Change and Meaning, Crawford House Publishing, Adelaide, 2002), pp. 370–385, 449–452.

John Vincent Stanley Megaw et al, Twenty-Five Years and Beyond: Papunya Tula Painting,  Flinders Art Museum, Adelaide, 1999, p. 97.

Doreen Mellor, 'Indigenous Art', Art & Australia, vol. 39, 2001, p. 165.

Eric Michaels, 'Bad Aboriginal Art', Art and Text (28), Mar/May 1988, pp. 59–73.

Steven Miller, 'The Papunya Tula Archive at the Art Gallery of New South Wales: A Case Study in the Provision of Archival Services for Indigenous Art', ARLIS/ANZ Journal (59), June 2005, pp. 7–13. National Museum of Australia Library.

Joyce Morgan, 'Beat of the Sacred Heart: Western Desert Dot Painting', Sydney Morning Herald, 12 Aug 2000, Spectrum, p. 12.

Bernice Murphy, 'Curating Contemporary Aboriginal Art', Praxis M (17), Summer 1987, pp. 21–24.

Fred R Myers, 'Aesthetic Function and Practice: A Loval History of Pintupi Painting', in Howard Morphy and Margo Smith Boles (eds), Art from the Land, 1999: University of Virginia Press, 1999, pp. 219–259, http://homepages.nyu.edu/%7Efrm1/source_files/pdfs/MyersArtFromtheLand.pdf.

Fred R Myers, 'Collecting Aboriginal Art in the Australian Nation: Two Case Studies', Visual Anthropology Review, vol. 21 (1–2), Spring/Fall 2005, pp. 116–137.

Fred R Myers, 'Culture Making: Performing Aboriginality at the Asia Society Gallery', American Ethnologist (4), 1994, pp. 679–699, http://homepages.nyu.edu/%7Efrm1/source_fil es/pdfs/myers%20culturemaking.pdf, accessed 20 Nov 2007.

Fred R Myers, 'Illusion and Reality: Aboriginal Self Determination in Central Australia', In The Future of Former Foragers in Australia and Southern Africa, papers presented at the American Anthropological Association meeting, Carmel Schrire and Robert Gordon (eds), Chicago, Cambridge, MA, American Anthropological Association, 1985, pp. 109–121.

Fred R Myers, 'Ontologies of the Image and Economies of Exchange', American Ethnologist, vol. 31 (1), 2004, pp. 5–20.

Fred R Myers, 'Representing Culture: The Production of Discourse(s) for Aboriginal Acrylic Paintings', Cultural Anthropology, vol. 6 (1), 1991, pp. 26–62. National Museum of Australia Library.

Fred R Myers, 'Unsettled Business: Acrylic Painting, Tradition, and Indigenous being', Visual Anthropology, vol. 17 (3), 2004, pp. 247–271.

Fred R Myers, 'We are Not Alone: Anthropology in a World of Others', Ethnos, vol. 71 (2), 2006, p. 233. DOI.

Nuala O'Flynn, 'Aboriginal Painting, Past and Present: Reading Direction and the Unaboriginal Eye', Australian and New Zealand Studies in Canada (8), Dec 1992, pp. 33–58.

Ingrid Periz, 'Tim Johnson: The Problems of Appropriation — Interview', Tension (3), Apr 1984, p. 11.

Hetti Perkins and Hannah Fink, 'Covering Ground: The Corporeality of Landscape', Art and Australia, vol. 38 (1), Sept–Oct–Nov 2000, pp. 74–83.

Georges Petitjean, 'The Lines of Willy Tjungurrayi', Art & Australia, vol. 38 2001, p. 598.

Jennifer Phipps, 'Reflections on Aboriginal Art, Assimilation and Land Rights', Art Monthly Australia (114), Oct 1998, pp. 22–25.

Gabrielle Pizzi, 'Dreamings of the Aboriginal Nation', A–Z Antiques Australia, vol. 1 (3), Autumn 1989, pp. 51–54, 57–58.

Gabrielle Pizzi, 'The Work is the Statement: An Interview with Gabrielle Pizzi', Art Monthly Australia (47 supp.), 1993, pp. 25–26.

Marion Ravenscroft, 'Methods and Materials used in Australian Aboriginal Art', Bulletin, Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material, vol. 11 (3), Dec 1985, pp. 92–109.

Judith Ryan, 'Geoffrey Robert Bardon AM 1940–2003: Obituary of the Visionary Australian Writer, Teacher and Activist', Art and Australia, vol. 41 (3), Autumn 2004, p. 395.

Judith Ryan, 'The Mythology of Pattern: Papunya Tula Art 1971–89', in Judith Ryan (ed.), Mythscapes: Aboriginal Art of the Desert, Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 1990, pp. 24–55.

Dennis Schulz, 'When Dreaming Turns into a Nightmare: Allegations of Forgery in Aboriginal Art', Bulletin, Sydney, 11 May 1999, pp. 40–45.

Susan Simons, 'Papunya: Reflections on an Exhibition of Aboriginal Art, Long Gallery, University of Wollongong, New South Wales', Scarp (11), Oct 1987, pp. 8–13.

Rowena Stretton, 'Utopia Aboriginal Art', Australian business pages 1991, pp. 84–85.

Marina Strocchi, 'Minyma Tjukurrpa: Kintore/Haasts Bluff Canvas Project — Dancing Women to Famous Painters', Artlink, vol. 26 (4), 2006, pp. 104–107.

Colin Symes and Bob Lingard, 'From the Ethnographic to the Aesthetic: An Examination of the Relationship between Aboriginal and European Culture in Australian Art 1788–1988', in Foss, P (ed.), Island in the Stream: Myths of Place in Australian Culture, Leichhardt: Pluto Press, 1988, pp. 188–215, 228–232.

Luke Taylor, 'Fred R Myers — Painting Culture: The Making of an Aboriginal High Art', The Australian Journal of Anthropology, vol. 15 (1), 2004, pp. 118–120. National Museum of Australia Library.

Liz Thompson, 'The Papunya Art of Central Australia', Craft Arts (14), Dec/Feb 1988, pp. 37–40.

Anne-Marie Willis and Tony Fry, 'Ethnocentrism, Art and the Culture of Domination', Praxis M (20), 1988, pp. 16–22.

John Wolseley, 'Rock Wallaby Dreaming: The Power, the Mood and the Scandal', Art and Australia, vol. 37 (3), Mar–May 2000, pp. 377–379.

Aboriginal Cultural Institute, East to West: Land in Papunya Tula Painting, Aboriginal Cultural Institute Incorporated, Adelaide, 1990, 1 portfolio.

Michael Boulter, Christopher Hodges and Utopia Art Sydney, Australia's First International Art Movement, Utopia Art, Sydney, 1990.

Annemarie Brody and National Gallery of Victoria, The Face of the Centre: Papunya Tula Paintings, 1971–84, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1985.

Andrew Crocker, Papunya: Aboriginal Paintings from the Central Australian Desert, The Aboriginal Artists Agency and Papunya Tula Artists, Australia, 1983.

Andrew Crocker et al, Mr Sandman Bring Me a Dream, Aboriginal Artists Agency with Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, Alice Springs, 1981, p.64. National Museum of Australia Library.

Christine Adrian Dyer, Icons of the Western Desert: The John W Kluge Papunya Tula Twentieth Anniversary Commission, Museum Art International Pty Ltd, North Adelaide, 1996.

Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Papunya Tula, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, 1990.

Charles Green, Jason Smith and National Gallery of Victoria, Fieldwork: Australian Art 1968–2002, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2002, p.159.

Diana James and Desart Inc, Desart: Aboriginal Art and Craft Centres of Central Australia, Desart, Alice Springs, 1993.

John Weber Gallery, Papunya Tula: Contemporary Paintings from Australia's Western Desert, John Weber Gallery, New York, 1989.

Vivien Johnson, Jane Hylton and Art Gallery of South Australia, Dreamings of the Desert: Aboriginal Dot Paintings of the Western Desert, The Gallery, Adelaide, 1996. National Museum of Australia Library.

Vivien Johnson et al, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 2003. National Museum of Australia Library.

Svetlana Karovich, Gabrielle Pizzi and Benalla Art Gallery, Aboriginal Desert Paintings, Benalla Art Gallery: November 1987 – 31st January 1988, Benalla Art Gallery, Benalla, 1987.

Tim Klingender, Papunya Tula Artists' Company and Hamiltons Gallery, Pintupi: 20 Contemporary Paintings from the Pintupi Homelands, Hamiltons, London, 2006.

Papunya Tula Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert, 13 October – 7 November 1980, Macquarie University Library, Macquarie University Library, Sydney, 1980.

Janet Maughan, Dot and Circle: A Retrospective Survey of the Aboriginal Acrylic Paintings of Central Australia, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, 1986.

Gabrielle Pizzi, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi and Papunya Tula Artists' Company, Rising Stars 2005,  Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, 2005, 1 folded card.

Gabrielle Pizzi, University of Tasmania and Plimsoll Gallery, Painting from the Desert: Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 1990.

Gabrielle Pizzi, 'Western Desert Art 1971/1989: An Overview', in Lauraine Diggins Fine Art Pty Ltd (ed.), A Myriad of Dreaming: Twentieth Century Aboriginal Art,  Malakoff Fine Art Press, Melbourne, 1989, pp. 62–86. National Museum of Australia Library.

Judith Ryan, Geoffrey Bardon and National Gallery of Victoria, Mythscapes: Aboriginal Art of the Desert from the National Gallery of Victoria, The Gallery, Melbourne, 1989.

Irene Sutherland, Papunya Tula Paintings — an exhibition at the Wagga Wagga City Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga City Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga, 1988.

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri et al, Songlines: Clifford Possum and Papunya Tula Artists — An Exhibition at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, 1990.

Charlie Tjaruru Tjungurrayi and University of Queensland, University Art Museum (eds), Trace and Place Recent Aboriginal Painting from Papunya Tula [and] Where the Dreamtime Stops, University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane 1986.

Jessica Williams et al, Masterpieces from the Western Desert, Gavin Graham Gallery, London, 2003.

G Borschmann, Interview with Dick Kimber, Writer, Historian, Anthropologist, [Recorded on November 5, 6, 11 and November 13 2003 at Alice Springs, N.T], 2003.

Doreen Mellor, v. [videorecording (VHS)], 2002.

Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia, Film Australia, vol. 1 videocassette (VHS) (30 min), 1988.

C McKenzie, Mr. Patterns, Film Australia, 2004.

S O'Rourke [producer], and P Jools, Sandpaintings of the Western Desert: A Demonstration, 1981.

Aboriginal Video Magazine, no. 9, Carl Wood and others, 1986.

Return to Top