Albert Namatjira - Legacy

Legacy

At the time of his death Namatjira had painted a total of around two thousand paintings and had two short biographical films made about him. His unique style of painting however was denounced soon after his death by some critics as being a product of his assimilation into western culture, rather than his own connection to his subject matter or his natural style. This view has been largely abandoned and Albert Namatjira is hailed as one of the greatest Australian artists and a pioneer for Aboriginal rights.

Namatjira's work is on public display in some of Australia's major art galleries, with some noteworthy exceptions. The Art Gallery of New South Wales rejected Namatjira's work. In the words of Hal Missingham, the then Director of the gallery: "We'll consider his work when it comes up to scratch".

Namatjira is the subject of a song of the same name by the Australian band Not Drowning, Waving, included on their 1993 album, Circus. He is also referenced in Midnight Oil's song, Truganani; I Am Australian; John Williamson's Raining on the Rock from his 1986 EMI album Mallee Boy and also The Camel Boy from his 2005 EMI album Chandelier Of Stars and in Archie Roach's song, Native Born. Slim Dusty was the first recording artist to record a tribute song, "Namatjira", in the 1960s, and Rick and Thel Carey followed up with their tribute "The Stairs That Namatjira Climbed".

In 1968 Namatjira was honoured on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post and again in 1993 with examples of his work.