Mt Hermannsburg 1952

Albert Namatjira made this watercolour painting, Mt Hermannsburg, most likely in the first half of the 20th century. Just imagine Namatjira outside with his paper, paints, and brushes, looking at that incredible landscape! I am thinking about the way he’s built up the landscape, stroke by stroke. See how he uses small brush marks to describe the texture and colour of the hills. The way the light falls! It’s really masterful. I love how the colours shift in the hills, from the warmer oranges in the foreground to the cooler blues further back. He must have been so attuned to the subtle shifts of light across the landscape. And look at the way he’s captured the atmosphere; there’s a real sense of air and space. It reminds me of Cezanne, or maybe even some of those early Renaissance landscapes – everyone borrowing and learning from each other, reaching across time. Painting is like a big conversation that never ends.