Amulda Gorge

'Amulda Gorge' was the first work by an Indigenous artist to be purchased for the Art Gallery of New South Wales collection, in 1947.

Western Arrernte artist Edwin Pareroultja was a contemporary of Albert Namatjira and a renowned artist in his own right. Pareroultja, along with his brothers, Otto and Reuben, was known for his use of brilliant colour and graphic forms resulting in an almost design-like quality to his work.

Pareroultja’s distinct style resulted in landscapes generally less representational than Namatjira’s, something which perhaps contributed to the Art Gallery trustees’ decision to acquire his work before that of the better known Namatjira.

Today, Edwin Pareroultja’s painting is joined in the collection by several from his daughter, Ivy Pareroultja, as well as by the Namatjira and other families, a new generation of artists continuing the legacy of the renowned Hermannsburg school of watercolour painters.