Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri
Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri (c. 1927 – 5 September 2015) was an Anmatyerr Australian artist.
Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri
- Born
- 1927 · Northern Territory.
- Nationality
- Australia
- Occupation
- painter
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wikidata · Q863230 · wikipedia · Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri
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Biography
Places of work recorded in the authority are Australia. Work by Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri is recorded in the collections of Auckland Art Gallery, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and National Gallery of Australia.
He was born at Ilpitirri near Mount Denison, was one of Australia's best-known artists of the Western Desert Art Movement, Papunya Tula. Tjapaltjarri's mother was killed in the Coniston Massacre in 1928 and his father was away from the camp hunting and survived. Tjapaltjarri was raised on Napperby Station by his aunt, the mother of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. In the 1960s, he was working as a cook at Papunya when many of the Pintupi people were brought in from the west. Like Clifford, he began his artistic career carving wooden animals for the arts and crafts marketplace. He is credited with being one of the men who painted the Honey Ant Dreaming on the wall of the Papunya School at Geoff Bardon's request. In the 1970s, he was one of the first chairmen of Papunya Tula Pty Ltd. His key paintings represent his Dreamings, including those of the budgerigar, spider, wallaby, yam and wild potato. He also painted about men's ceremony and Law. Tjapaltjarri later moved west to Ilili, a pioneer in the Homelands movement, although in his later years he has spent much time in Alice Springs. He travelled to New York City in 1988 for the opening of the "Dreamings" show at the Asia Society and, along with Michael Nelson Jagamarra, created a sand painting as part of the exhibition. He spent much of his later life in Alice Springs and died there on 5 September 2015, when a resident at Hettie Perkins Aged Care Home.
Collections
Tjapaltjarri's works are in national collections in Australia: • National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia • National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia • Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia • Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, United States
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Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri, revision 1299009721 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Notice of intended distribution of decease estate. Northern Territory News. 42. 2016-09-17.
- 2.Tan, Monica. Papunya's daughters: Australia's second generation of master dot painters. The Guardian. 14 September 2015.
- 3.Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri. National Museum of Australia.
- 4.TJAPALTJARRI, Billy Stockman QAGOMA Collection Online. collection.qagoma.qld.gov.au.
- 5.Reaktion Books, Ian. Rattling Spears A History of Indigenous Australian. Reaktion Books. 126. 2016. 978-1-78023-590-5.
- 6.Mens Ceremony by Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri from Papunya (including artist biography). www.aboriginalartstore.com.au.
- 7.J.B. Books, Janusz B. The Tjulkurra : Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri. J.B. Books. 2002. 978-1-876622-37-4.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
- J.B. Books, Janusz B. The Tjulkurra : Billy Stockman Tjapaltjarri. J.B. Books. 2002. 978-1-876622-37-4.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 29 August 2026.
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