Shirley Purdie Australia (Aboriginal), 1948-.
Past Sales
Sales by Medium
Where to buy or sell art works by Shirley Purdie
Auction Houses
About Shirley Purdie
Shirley Purdie (born 1947) is a contemporary Indigenous Australian artist, notable for winning the 2007 Blake Prize for Religious Art. She was born in 1947 at Gilbun, or Mabel Downs Station, in Western Australia's Kimberley region, daughter of Madigan Thomas. She moved to Warmun, not far from her birthplace, where she lives and paints. She is married to artist Gordon Barney. Shirley Purdie was taught by her mother and by major Kimberley Indigenous artist Queenie McKenzie, two women who were among the first to paint at Warmun in the early 1980s. Her work Stations of the Cross was washed off the walls of the Warmun Art Centre in the floods of March 2007, and when later recovered from beside the creek it was found to have been seriously damaged. The work portrays the Christian iconography of the 14 Stations of the Cross, but also the history of conflict and racial violence in the artist's community in the 1920s and 1930s. Purdie has won several awards, including the Blake Prize for Religious Art in 2007, for her work Stations of the Cross. Her works are held by major galleries, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
The total number of works by Shirley Purdie offered for sale by auction since 1996 is 35, of which 21 (60%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $3,824 for Warrabayn 2001 sold by Mossgreen Auctions in April 2008. No works have been offered for sale this year, and the last sale we have recorded for the artist was in 2023. Works by Shirley Purdie are held by the National Gallery of Australia, National Portrait Gallery and Museum of Contemporary Art.
Shirley Purdie is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 175
- Australian Prints + Printmaking, a database listing printmaking artists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region based on the print collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Artists' Resale Royalty
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
Yes, eligible, subject to the artist satisfying the residency test. The artist is alive or has been deceased for less than 70 years. Contact the Copyright Agency for information on the residency test.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
Access to the database is available on either a monthly or annual subscription. During the subscription period you have unlimited access to the site. If you would like to subscribe, please proceed to our Subscription Form.