Albert Namatjira's Central Australian Ranges; Portrait of Albert’s Son, 1936 (Lot 515 ) estimated at $20,000 – 30,000 is a double-sided watercolour from the artist’s formative years. The portrait, believed to be one of Albert’s elder sons, is now the forth publicly known portrait by the artist in Lawsons August Fine Art sale in Sydney.
Namatjira’s rendering of country from the late 30s demonstrates an artist that is still developing ways to depict his keen observations of the multi-faceted landscape and an innate understanding of pictorial composition (Lot 515 ). Here, we see features that are to become recurring motifs in Namatjira’s works: a high-horizon, a study of light and shadow among rock structures, peaks and ranges in the distance, tonal and colour contrasts that unify the picture plane but also serve to distinguish the foreground, middle ground and distance, the latter assisted by Namatjira’s sensitivity towards perspective, a technique aided by the placement of trees and shrubs to frame the panoramic view and orientate the viewer through the landscape. His signature ‘Albert’ is common among works of his early years from 1936, and it is not until the following year that we see Albert sign paintings as ‘Albert Namatjira’.[1]
Turnover the page and we have an unfinnished portrait, the sitter attributed as one of Namatjira’s sons. Given the mature features we can assume that it is either one of the three eldest sons, Enos, Oscar or Ewald. Namatjira was known to paint portraits but ceased producing these beyond the late 30s. Literature and diary accounts of Rex Batterbee suggest that this was on account of lore in that no tribesman was allowed to represent creatures or objects of the Dreamtime in its actual form but through symbolism only[2]. Verbal accounts of Namatjira painting portraits of his wife Rubina and an Elder reveal how both subjects opposed Namatjira’s rendering of them.[3] To date, only three profile heads are publicy known (Indoona, c1938; Nguritooyalpa, c1937; Kamatu)[4] the current work is now the fourth.
The present owners are descendants of Friedrich Wilhelm Mattner who was actively involved in Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission Station where he served as a member of the Finke Mission Board, and periodically worked in the Hermannsburg region between 1918 until 1947. Circumstances as to how it was acquired remains unknown.
[1] Hermannsburg Historic Pricint ‘Albert Namatjira’ 13th August 2023 (https://hermannsburg.com.au/stories/albert-namatjira)
[2] Edmond, M “Double Lives : Rex Battarbee & Albert Namatjira” [Doctoral Thesis] The University of Western Sydney, 2013 https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws%3A18566/datastream/PDF/download/citation.pdf
[3] Edmond, M Op. Cit, p.
[4] French, A “Seeing the Centre: The Art of Albert Namatjira 1902-1959”, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 2002,pgs. 37 & 43
