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OTTO PAREROULTJA 1914 - 1973 West MacDonnell Ranges, c.1954 watercolour on paper 37 x 52 cm (image); 72 x 85 cm (framed) signed lower centre; number 6 inscribed verso PROVENANCE John Worthington Hermannsburg Collection Elder Fine Art, Important Australian & International Paintings, Adelaide, 24/11/2019, Lot No. 112 Private collection, NSW Otto Pareroultja, along with his brothers Reuben and Edwin, lived and worked at the Lutheran Hermannsburg Mission in Central Australia. Encouraged by Rex Battarbee and inspired by Albert Namatjira, the Pareroultja brothers established themselves within the Hermannsburg watercolour movement of the mid-20th century. While initially shaped by European conventions of landscape painting, Otto's work soon revealed a distinctive approach, marked by bold line, rhythmic pattern, and strong colour harmonies. In West MacDonnell Ranges, c.1954, Pareroultja presents one of the iconic subjects of the Hermannsburg school: a white ghost gum standing before distant mountain ranges. His treatment, however, is less representational than Namatjira's. Vigorous, sinuous lines animate the surface, while repeating motifs and contrasting tonal areas create an almost patterned effect. The ghost gum, though central, is visually integrated into the land and sky by the continuation of purples and blues through its trunk and shadowing. This approach brings a sense of dynamism and continuity to the composition, highlighting the interconnectedness of all elements of the landscape. Commentators have long recognised the cultural resonance within Pareroultja's style. Rex Battarbee linked aspects of his imagery to Aboriginal rock art and tjurunga (sacred objects), while linguist T.G.H. Strehlow observed parallels with Arrernte stories in which old gums are said to have arisen from ancestral poles abandoned during journeys. Whether understood as drawing on ancestral knowledge or as a regional modernist development within the European idiom, Otto Pareroultja's paintings convey an intimate and vital connection to country. @ OTTO PAREROULTJA / Copyright Agency, 2025