Ningura Napurrula Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1938 - d. 2013

Ningura Napurrula (1938 – 2013) was born at Watulka, south of the modern Kiwirrkura community in Western Australia, and is one of Australia’s leading indigenous artists. Her work is represented in all Australian national galleries and in one of Europe’s most important public museums, Musee du quai Branly, Paris.

Ningura Napurrula is the widow of the late Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi, a highly respected Pintupi elder. Ningura’s first contact with Western society was in 1962 when she and Yala Yala brought their family to Papunya. By 1963, they had moved permanently to the settlement. In the 1980s Ningura Napurrula moved with Yala Yala and their family to Kintore where she started helping with the background dotting on Yala Yala’s artwork, collaboration being a common practice with aboriginal artists. In 1995, as part of the Kintore/Haasts Bluff women’s painting project, she started doing her own artwork.

Characteristic of Ningura Napurrula’s work is a strong dynamism created by rich linear designs made with heavy layers of acrylic paint. Her depictions include the stories associated with the rockhole sites of Wirrulnga and Palturunya, east of Kiwirrkurra.

Japingka Gallery has exhibited the work of Ningura Napurrula over many years including the exhibitions –

2008 Women’s Law
2006 Luminaries of the Desert
2005 Across Skin-Women Artists of the Western Desert

A selection of paintings by Ningura Napurrula is available from Japingka Gallery, where collectors can buy Aboriginal art online with certainty of quality, authenticity and provenance of art works.