Ivy Pareroultja

Ivy was born at Hermannsburg in 1952. In the 1940s her father, Edwin Pareroultja, was as well known as Albert Namatjira. Namatjira had been painting for seven years before any of the newer Western Arranta artists started to gain recognition, however, in 1947, two years earlier proposal that painting by Namatjira be exhibited in the gallery, the trustees purchased a watercolour by 29 year old Edwin, from the artist’s second solo show. Edwin was the youngest of the three Parerolutja brothers. An outstanding athlete, he was also extremely musical. Rex Battarbee admired the originality of Edwin’s style, in particular, his independence from Albert Namatjira and his ‘sense of decoration’, ‘which stands apart from composition or design’. The following description, written in 1951, could equally be applied to his daughter’s landscapes today: they are both ‘natural colourists’ using an amazing variety of colour combinations in different strengths that always seem to harmonise’. Both artists ‘(use’) colour for the sheer joy of using it’. In contrast to her cousin, Hubert, Ivy combines high-keyed chromatic opposites, such as orange and purple. Her paintings are even more animated and, like Lenie Namatjira, she prefers to use loose brushstrokes that create extremely dynamic images.