The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma will present a major exhibition of contemporary Aboriginal painting this fall, bringing more than five decades of Indigenous Australian artistic development to audiences in Oklahoma.
From the Australian Desert: Contemporary Aboriginal Painting will be on view from October 16, 2026, through March 14, 2027, at the museum on the University of Oklahoma’s Norman campus. The exhibition features 127 works by more than 80 artists, with pieces produced between 1971 and 2021.
The presentation is based on Irriṯitja Kuwarri Tjungu (Past and Present Together): Contemporary Aboriginal Painting from the Australian Desert, the first U.S. exhibition to survey the internationally recognized Aboriginal art movement that emerged in the remote Australian township of Papunya.
Exhibition Traces More Than 50 Years of Aboriginal Art
The movement began in 1971, when a small group of Aboriginal men in Papunya started painting ancestral designs with acrylic paint on materials including cardboard, Masonite and linoleum.
From those modest beginnings, the movement developed into a multimillion-dollar industry and gained recognition in the international contemporary art world. It also provided Indigenous Australian artists with an influential platform for expressing culture, history and connections to ancestral landscapes.
In 1973, the artists established Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, the first Aboriginal-owned cooperative in Australia. Over the following five decades, the organization became a leading force in contemporary Aboriginal art.
Works associated with Papunya Tula have since appeared in major international exhibitions, including Documenta, while artworks have entered the collections of institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum and the Hood Museum of Art.
“We are honored to share this incredible exhibition with our communities,” said Thomas Smith, Wylodean and Bill Saxon Director of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. “Oklahomans are familiar with Native arts of North America, and this exhibition is a unique opportunity to consider Indigenous art more globally.”
More Than 80 Artists Represented in Oklahoma Exhibition
The exhibition includes works by prominent artists including Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, Makinti Napanangka and Yukultji Napangati.
One of the exhibition’s major components is The Papunya Tula Fiftieth Anniversary Suite, featuring 50 works by 50 leading contemporary Papunya Tula artists. The collection highlights the importance of community to the movement and demonstrates its continued development across generations.
“For over fifty years, Papunya Tula Artists have stood at the forefront of global contemporary art,” said Dr. Henry Skerritt, curator of the exhibition. “Through their grit and determination, they showed the world the strength and power of their culture and proved that Australian First Nations artists were some of the most important contemporary artists working anywhere in the world. The fact that they continue to produce artists of such high standing is stunning proof of the resilience and importance of Indigenous art to understanding the world in which we live.”
International Partnership Brings Exhibition to Oklahoma
The exhibition was organized by the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia in partnership with Papunya Tula Artists. The project builds on a relationship between the two organizations that has developed over approximately three decades.
Kluge-Ruhe is the only museum outside Australia dedicated to the exhibition and study of Indigenous Australian art, giving the institution a specialized role in presenting and researching the work internationally.
The Oklahoma presentation is supported in part by the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art’s Museum Association and donors to the museum’s endowment. Artist travel is supported by The Ferra Group, the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection and the Australian Government through the Australian Consulate in Houston, Texas.
The exhibition will provide Oklahoma audiences with an opportunity to explore the evolution of Papunya Tula Artists and the broader influence of Indigenous Australian painting on contemporary art.
From the Australian Desert: Contemporary Aboriginal Painting will remain on display through March 14, 2027, at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, located at 555 Elm Avenue in the OU Arts District on the University of Oklahoma’s Norman campus.
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