Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra biography

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Jack Phillipus, born circa 1932 at Kalimpinpa, is one of the most senior artists of Papunya involved with the early Aboriginal art movement in 1971 and has painted continuously since that time. Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra is represented around the world his paintings are valuable and quickly fetch in frenzy by International and Australian are collectors view auction results.

Jack Phillipus is an important Rain Dreaming site north-east of Kintore. Jack Phillipus father, who was Warlpiri, came from Parikurlangu to the north of Kalimpinpa and his mother, who was of mixed Warlpiri/Luritja descent, also came from Kalimpinpa. Jack Phillipus paints Rain Dreaming site north-east of Kintore. Jack is one of the most senior and important artists of Papunya involved with the early Aboriginal art movement in 1971 and has painted continuously since that time.

Long Jack Phillipus grew up in the bush west of Mt Farewell and came into Haasts Bluff settlement with his whole family as a teenager. He worked at Haasts Bluffas a timber contractor and stockman and married  Georgette Napaltjarri. They have two sons, three daughters and many grandchildren. Long Jack has been part of the Papunya painting movement since the beginning of the '70s when he was a Councillor at Papunya. It was Long Jack, together with Billy STOCKMAN, who was also a school yardman at the time, they offered their help with painting the murals around the Papunya school, which preceded the large Honey Ant mural. Long Jack has painted intermittently since those times, taking out the Australian North Territory Golden Jubilee Art Award in 1983 and the Alice Springs Art Prize in 1984.

In 1984 Long Jack Phillipus was ordained as a Lutheran pastor. Of the Warlpiri / Luritja language group, Long Jack's paintings depict Hare, Wallaby, Kingfisher, Dingo and other Dreamings in the Mt Singleton area. He lives in Papunya and remains close to his 'brother', Michael NELSON, with whom his family camped  Haasts Bluff in the early years before the Papunya settlement. His younger sister, Pauline WOODS, is a well-known Western Desert artist currently working out of Alice Springs.

Select Bibliography:
 Brody, A., 1985, The face of the centre: Papunya Tula paintings 1971-1984, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Bardon, G., 1979, Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert, Rigby, Adelaide; Bardon, G., 1991, Papunya Tula Art of the Western Desert, McPhee Gribble, Ringwood, Victoria; Caruana, W., 1993, Aboriginal Art, Thames and Hudson, London. (C) ; Crossman, S. and Barou, J-P. (eds), 1990, L'ete Australien a  Montpellier: 100 Chefs d'Oevre;  de la Peinture Australienne, Musee Fabre, Montpellier, France. (C) ; Diggins, L. (ed.), 1989, A Myriad of Dreaming: Twentieth  Century Aboriginal Art, exhib. cat., ; Malakoff Fine Art Press, North Caulfield, Victoria; Johnson, V., 1994, The Dictionary of Western Desert Artists, Craftsman House, East Roseville, NSW. (C) ; Ryan, J., 1989, Mythscapes Aboriginal Art of the Desert from the National Gallery of Victoria; exhib. cat., National Gallery of  Victoria, Melbourne. (C); 1974, Art of Aboriginal Australia, exhib. cat., Rothmans of Pall  Mall Canada Limited. (C) ; 1988, ANCAAA and Boomalli, exhib. cat., Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Ko-operative, Sydney. (C) ; 1988, Recent Aboriginal Painting, exhib. cat., Art Gallery of  South Australia, Adelaide; 1993, Tjukurrpa Desert Dreamings, Aboriginal Art from Central  Australia (1971-1993), exhib. cat., ; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth. (C); © Discovery Media, Documentation Pty Ltd, and the Australian ; Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra (1932)

Image Size: 95 x 63 cm

Framed size 128 x 95 cm
timber gold leaf frame and white board

NOTES

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NOTES

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NGV Symposium – 'Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western Desert Art give prominence to 200 of the first paintings produced at Papunya between 1971 and 1972 and also establishes the vital connection between the works of art and their sources in ephemeral designs made for use in ceremony.

Many of the artists who started the Aboriginal art movement like Billy Stockman, Long Jack Phillipus are old or have passed away and the younger generation is learning western customs. Today Aboriginal Australians live and work around the world, from Papunya to London, from Arnhem Land to New York.  Thus it is the last chance that anyone on this planet can acquire an authentic painting with impeccable provenance by one of the important artists.

The value placed on works of art will differ from the critical value placed on the same work. Individual works of art are traded at individual prices in the prevailing art collector’s opinion. Other elements seemingly unrelated to the work can affect the value. By all means shop around, compare prices, which you will see fluctuate widely and vary from item to item as subject and quality alter price by significant factor. However, too great preoccupation with price can be counter-productive. A weakness for buying bargains can be one of the worst faults that afflict a collector.

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