Artist: Ronnie Tjampitjina
Title: RT 0106097
Size: 244cm x 183cm
Date: 2001
Language Group: Pintupi
Description: This important work by Ronnie Tjampitjinpa tells the story of the initiation into manhood of young boys. The small concentric squares at the top of the painting represent the boys who will pass across the mid ground and through a cave at the bottom of the picture, emerging as men. The location of the site is Tingarritjarra, west of Tarkul and near Mount Webb in Western Australia.
Biography of Artist: Ronnie Tjampitjinpa was born in 1943 near Muyinha in Western Australia near the border with the Northern Territory. Ronnie was initiated into manhood in the early 1950's at Tumari. Prior to becoming an artist, Ronnie worked on stations, usually as a fencer. Like many of his peers, after years of moving between communities at Papunya, Yuendumu and other remote locations, he located to Kintore, closer to his traditional lands. He has developed a preeminent reputation amongst the Papunya Tula Artists. In 1988 he won the Alice Springs Art Prize which brought his international recognition and he is now regarded as one of the principal artists of the desert art movement. Ronnie Tjampitjinpa has exhibited both nationally and internationally. His works are in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Art Galleries of South Australia, New South Wales, Western Australia and Northern Territory and the Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs.
