Albert Namatjira - Western MacDonnell Landscape, 1945 - Albert Namatjira

25 x 35.5 cm, 41.5 x 51.5 cm (framed) Albert Namatjira began painting in the early 1930s. By the time of his death almost thirty years later, his romantic depictions of the Western MacDonnell Ranges, Mount Sonder, and the surrounding desert had become synonymous with our collective vision of the Australian outback. Namatjira's watercolours typically capture the high colouring of the desert landscape, the gorges and valleys of the country of his birth, and his Dreaming. He was able to capture the subtleties of colour as the desert changes from the soft tones of summer heat to the rich hues of the early morning and late evening light. As in the majority of his depictions of his country, Namatjira painted this work from an elevated point of view, as if looking down ever so slightly on the landscape. Here, the composition is balanced as the eye is drawn to the centre by the artist's visual emphasis on the edges. This painting was purchased directly from Albert Namatjira during one of the many trips made by Terry Southwell-Keely, the instigator of the Ampol Redex Trails in the early 1950s. Southwell-Keely fought in New Guinea, Palestine and El Alamein during WWII, before becoming a BBC war correspondent reporting from behind enemy lines in German occupied France and Greece. Upon his return to Australia he became the Chief of Public Relations for Ampol during the 1950s and 1960s. Amongst his many achievements, he was the instigator of the Round Australia Redex Trials, the promoter of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation which was relatively unknown at the time, and the founder of the Walkley Awards for journalism. Southwell-Keely and Namatjira stayed in touch and remained firm friends until the artist’s death in 1959. The painting is accompanied by a Christmas card signed by Albert and sent to his 'old mate' during the 1950s.

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