Ronnie Tjampitjinpa Biography
Born in Tjiturrunya, Western Australia, Australia circa 1942
Ronnie Tjampitjinpa c. 1942 was born in Pintupi land at Muyinnga, about 100 kilometres west of the Kintore Range, across the Western Australian border. 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 Papunya 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. One of the last founding members of Papunya Tula Artists, Tjampitjinpa’s career spans more than 40 years. He has had six solo exhibitions since 1989. Sadly, he passed away in June, 2023 Throughout the 1980s Tjampitjinpa worked devotedly on a land claim for Ininti, holding meetings in Darwin, Warmun (Turkey Creek), Utopia and many other places before finally abandoning political involvement as ‘ ... too much humbug for too long’. Tjampitjinpa now wants ‘ … to settle down and work for myself, just painting’, and resides on his out-station when not at Walungurru or in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Collections National: Artbank, SydneyArt Gallery of New South Wales, SydneyArt Gallery of South Australia, AdelaideArt Gallery of Western Australia, PerthCampbelltown City Art GalleryMuseum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, DarwinNational Gallery of Australia, CanberraNational Gallery of Victoria, MelbourneThe Holmes à Court Collection, Perth International: Donald Kahn Collection, Lowe Art Museum, Uni of MiamiMusee des Arts Africans et Oceaniens, Paris Steve Martin & Anne Stringfield Private Collection
Select Archive Works