Born c.1942
Region Kintore
Language Pintupi
Ronnie Tjampitjinpa (c.1943–2023) was a senior Pintupi artist and one of the founding members of Papunya Tula Artists. Born at Muyinnga, west of the Kintore Ranges on Pintupi Country, he spent his early years living traditionally before relocating with his family to Yuendumu, Haasts Bluff and later Papunya, where he worked as a labourer.
Among the youngest artists involved in the emergence of the Western Desert painting movement in 1971, Ronnie played an important role in the development of Papunya Tula. During the 1970s he became a passionate advocate for the return of Pintupi people to their traditional homelands, a goal realised with the establishment of Walungurru (Kintore) in 1981. He later settled there with his family, established an outstation at Ininti (Redbank), and served as Chairman of the Kintore Outstation Council.
Throughout a career spanning more than four decades, Ronnie developed a bold and highly recognisable style defined by sweeping linear forms and powerful geometric compositions. His paintings draw on Pintupi law, ceremony and the Tingari Cycle, expressing a profound connection to Country while helping shape the visual language of the Kintore artists during the 1990s.
A respected elder and influential artist, Ronnie’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout Australia and is represented in major public and private collections. His legacy endures as one of the pioneering figures of the Western Desert art movement.
EXHIBTIONS
2011 Tjukurrtjanu- Origins of Western Desert Art, National Gallery of Victoria
2009 The Dreamers, Art Gallery of NSW
2008 From the air, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2004 DREAMTIME: The Dark and The Light, Sammlung Essl, Austria
2003 Bushfire, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane QLD
2001 Spirit & Vision, Sammlung Essl, Austria
2000 Aboriginal Lawman- Masterworks, Australian Exhibition Centre, Chicago, USA
2000 Papunya Tula Genesis and Genius, Australia Gallery, NSW
2000 Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia, Melbourne VIC
1999 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, USA
1999 Flinders Art Museum, Flinders University, Adelaide SA
1999 Spirit Country, San Francisco/Touring
1998 Jinta Gallery, Sydney
1996 Twenty Five Years and Beyond: Papunya Tula Painting, Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide, SA
1995 Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC.” 2001, 2003 Chapel off Chapel Gallery, Me
1994 Yiribana, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
1994 Power of the Land, Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria
1994 Dreamings – Tjukurrpa: Aboriginal Art of the Western Desert
1994 The Donald Kahn collection, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich
1994 Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
1994 The Eleventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1994 Australian Heritage Commission National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Old Parliament House, Canberra
1993 Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Kung Gubunga,Oasis Gallery, Broadbeach, Qld
1993 Tjukurrpa, Desert Dreamings, Aboriginal Art from Central Australia (1971-1993), Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth WA
1993 Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
1992 Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
1992 The Ninth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1991 The Eighth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1991 Flash Pictures, National Gallery of Australia
1991 Australian Aboriginal Art from the Collection of Donald Kahn, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, USA
1991 Aboriginal Paintings from the Desert, Union of Soviet Artists Gallery, Moscow and Museum of Ethnographic Art, St. Petersburg, Russia.
1990 National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome
1990 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
1990 Paintings from the Desert, Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings, Plimsoll Gallery, Centre for the Arts, Hobart, Tasmania
1990 The Seventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1989 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
1989 Aboriginal Art: The Continuing Tradition, National Gallery of Australia
1988 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
1987 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
1986 Roar Studios, Melbourne
1983 Mori Gallery, Sydney
COLLECTIONS
Artbank, Sydney
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth.
Campbelltown City Art Gallery
Donald Kahn collection, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami.
Medibank Private Collection
Musee des Arts Africans et Oceaniens, Paris.
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Supreme Court of Northern Territory, Darwin.
The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth.