Kngwarreye, Emily

Emily Kame Kngwarreye (c. 1910-96) was an Aboriginal artist from Utopia in the remote desert region of Australia's Northern Territory. Her exact date of birth is uncertain, but she was in her late 70s when she began painting on canvas, creating a phenomenal number of artworks in the eight years before her death. Untutored in the techniques of Western art, she nevertheless produced works that have been compared to such masters as Monet and Kandinsky. Many art critics consider her to be one of the greatest abstract artists of the 20th century.

For the greater part of her life, Kngwarreye lived the ordinary life of a woman among the Anmatyerre, who had lived on their traditional lands for thousands of years. Kngwarreye participated in awelye, ...