Angelina Pwerle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Angelina Pwerle
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|---|---|
| Born | c. 1939 |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Indigenous Australian art |
Angelina Pwerle (say 'Pull-uh') is a famous Aboriginal artist from Australia. She was born around 1939. Her amazing artworks are shown in big museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Australia.
Contents
Early Life
Angelina Pwerle is an Anmatyerr woman. She was born around 1939 at a place called Utopia homestead in Central Australia. This area is about 250 kilometers northeast of Alice Springs. It was a long time before the land was given back to its traditional owners.
Her Art Journey
Angelina Pwerle started making art in 1977. She first learned to work with batik, which is a way of dyeing fabric. Her teacher was Yipati Kuyata, an artist from Ernabella.
In 1986, Angelina helped start the Utopia Women’s Batik Group. Other famous artists like Emily Kame Kngwarreye were also part of this group. Later, in 1988-1989, she began painting with acrylic paints on canvas.
She has been painting for Delmore Gallery since 1989.
Art Styles
Angelina Pwerle's art since 1988 can be grouped into three main styles:
- Abstract art: These paintings use many tiny dots. They look like pointillist works, where small dots of color create a bigger picture.
- Naive art: These paintings show spirit people called Atham-areny.
- Ritual art: This includes woodcarvings that show her deep knowledge of Aboriginal ceremonies.
Her art has been shown in important exhibitions. For example, her work was in the Hosfelt Gallery's 20th Anniversary Exhibition in San Francisco. Her paintings were displayed alongside works by famous artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ed Ruscha. She also had her own shows at Hosfelt Gallery in 2013 and 2018.
A documentary film about her, called Bush Plum: The Contemporary Art of Angelina Pwerle, was made in 2012.
Her art was also part of a big exhibition called Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia. This show traveled across the United States and Canada from 2016 to 2019. A curator named Anne Marie Brody said that Angelina's works are like "deep crystallizations at the far frontier of creative endeavor."
Angelina Pwerle says that making art is "a constant engagement" and "a spiritual connection to place." This means her art is deeply linked to her land and beliefs.
Bush Plum Paintings
Angelina Pwerle is most famous for her paintings of the Bush Plum (anwekety) Dreaming. The Bush Plum is an important food and story for her people.
She started painting these works in mid-1996, soon after the death of another famous artist, Emily Kame Kngwarreye.
These paintings often have many tiny dots that are very close together. Curator Nici Cumpston says this makes the surface look "subtly textured" and "shimmering." Angelina uses a wooden stick to make these tiny dots on her canvases.
In 2022, the director of the National Gallery of Australia, Nick Mitzevich, said that Angelina has made the dotting technique from the Central Desert even better. He said she uses it to create abstract visions that are very different from other artists.
A writer named Patrick Witton described a Bush Plum painting as "a constellation of minute dots that cluster and crack forth across the canvas." He said it captures both tiny details and big ideas at the same time.
Where Her Art Is Kept
Many important art places have Angelina Pwerle's artworks. Some of these include:
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- National Gallery of Australia
- Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
- National Gallery of Victoria
- Art Gallery of New South Wales
- Art Gallery of South Australia
Her Names
Angelina Pwerle is sometimes known by other names like Angeline, Ngal, Ngale, and Kngale. There has been some discussion about which names are "correct." However, most big art institutions, like the National Gallery of Australia and Sotheby's, now call her Angelina Pwerle.
In 2016, Angelina herself explained that "Pwerle is the same as Ngale, just in another language." In Alyawarr country, she is called Pwerle, and in Anmatyerre country, she is called Ngale.
Personal Life
Angelina Pwerle mostly speaks her native Anmatyerr language. She rarely leaves the Utopia region where she lives.
She is the younger sister of two other artists, Kathleen Ngale and Polly Ngale.
