Benalla Art Gallery's latest exhibition is the result of a generous donation by Wendy and Peter Fishley.
Benalla Art Gallery has unveiled its latest exhibition, Ntaria and beyond, the Hermannsburg School of Art.
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This exhibition, which opened on June 13, introduced six new Ntaria watercolours that have come into the Benalla Art Gallery Collection - a generous gift by Peter and Wendy Fishley.
Mr Fishley collected these works at auction over a number of years and had conservation measures applied to them to ensure the works remained vibrant for many years to come.
Benalla Art Gallery receiving these paintings fulfils a long-held desire by the couple that they should be held in an Australian gallery.
The Fishleys chose Benalla Art Gallery due to a connection with the region, having farmed at Terip Terip in the nearby Strathbogie Ranges in the 1960s.
Complementing these acquisitions are existing Ntaria works from the Benalla Art Gallery Collection, and loans from Shepparton Art Museum.
Ntaria is the home of the Western Arrernte people in the Northern Territory and includes Hermannsburg, a small town on the banks of the Finke River, at the foot of Mount Hermannsburg, 130 kilometres west of Mparntwe (Alice Springs).
The landscape features rugged mountains, deep gorges and dry plains, subject to harsh droughts and high temperatures.
It features red desert, stunted trees and spinifex, and is flanked by the Tjoritja (The MacDonnell Ranges), Krichauff and Gosse ranges.
Ntaria and beyond, the Hermannsburg School of Art opened at Benalla Art Gallery on June 13.
A Lutheran Mission was established at Hermannsburg in 1877 at a time when large areas of land were being leased for cattle stations, displacing the Arrernte people, who then became dependent on the mission for basic survival necessities.
The Hermannsburg School of Art developed in the 1930s as a distinctive style characterised by watercolours painted in traditional European techniques, depicting the striking landscape and homeland of the Arrente people.
Its most famous painter, and founder, was Albert Namatjira (1902-1959) who was mentored by visiting Melbourne artist Rex Battarbee during two, month-long painting trips which they embarked on through the surrounding countryside in 1936.
Albert’s first solo exhibition of 41 paintings in Melbourne, in 1938, sold out and his career, and the new style, flourished.
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