Geoffrey Bardon has died aged 62. Bardon’s work with Aboriginal artists in the Papunya community in Central Australia, where he was an art teacher, included introducing them to canvas and to acrylic paints and became legendary as the Aboriginal Art industry grew into a multi-million dollar market.
“Clifford Possum and his brother, Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, under the leadership of their cousin, Kaapa Tjampitjinpa, had been working to turn traditional Western Desert art into a commercial artistic form. The three soon joined Bardon’s group of painters and became founding directors of the Papunya Tula Artists company, the crucible of the desert art movement.”
