Clifford Possum

A pioneer of dot painting of the Western Desert of central Australia and one of its most distinguished painters of the late 20th century, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was the first of these artists to be recognized by the art world. While his paintings were exhibited in cities like London and New York and throughout Australia, the artist was long-time chair of the Papunya Tula Artists company. He helped market the Indigenous art produced by this group, individuals whose passage of knowledge to the next generations had been disrupted by European settlement. Here is the story of the paintings and leadership of Clifford Possum, how desert art served as a cultural renewal and spread knowledge about the worlds oldest living culture. It is one of the most elaborate books ever published on an Australian Aboriginal artist and accompanied his first comprehensive retrospective at the Art Gallery of South Australia.