Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, The master from Marnpi, by Alec O’Halloran.

Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri (c1923-1998) was a Pintupi man who became an award-winning Papunya Tula artist. The authorised biography, The master from Marnpi, reveals his fascinating life story and illuminates his extraordinary art career spanning three decades across the Western Desert. Three Namarari artworks featured in the 2021 S.H. Ervin Papunya Tula Artists exhibition: his 1983 painted boomerang (pages 45, 48), the 1972 early board (page 170 ) and his magnificent Tjunginpa Tjukurrpa (Mouse Dreaming) painting from 1997 (pages 154-5).

Namarari is a worthy biographical subject. He won the National Aboriginal Art Award, the Alice Prize and Australia’s prestigious Red Ochre Award - the only artist to receive all three awards.

I paint real slow, no rush, just slow, big ones, little ones, just slow, every time.

Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri

Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri was one of the pillars of contemporary art practice.

Hetti Perkins, Art Gallery NSW.

‘… when first released the book didn’t get the attention it deserved… it is ‘lavishly illustrated and beautifully designed.’… ‘You can see… how it might be possible to encounter such works (Namarari’s paintings) and never want to look away.’

Caroline Overington, Review, The Weekend Australian.

The early chapters cover Namarari’s childhood in the desert and his move to mission outposts and cattle stations (1920s-1930s). The middle chapters cover his adult life in the emergent cross-cultural zone west of Alice Springs (1940s-1960s). The final chapters cover the 1970s to 1990s and consider his mostly hidden roles of educator and local leader, and his art career, lavishly illustrated, through to his passing in 1998.

Namarari’s story provides insights into the colonisation of Central Australia and the tenacity of the Pintupi people. The master from Marnpi follows Namarari as a child, survivor, stockman, traveller, artist, family leader, cultural advocate and community member, through the life stages of boy, adult and old man. This historically detailed and culturally sensitive narration of his fascinating life in Australia’s remote desert settlements is illuminating for metropolitan readers, yielding insights into Aboriginal lives in contemporary art-producing communities and their links to the marketplace.

A reserved man, Namarari is remembered as a generous companion and a caring husband and father. Beyond his artwork he made numerous contributions as a patient teacher to Papunya Tula’s staff.

The master from Marnpi is worth owning for the images alone. Its compilation was clearly a labour of love, out of which Alec O’Halloran has made a beautiful book about a wonderful man.

Dr Martin Edmond, Sydney Review of Books.

The master from Marnpi is now a must-have book for individuals and institutions that hold Namarari's art. It is essential reading for everyone with an abiding interest in the history of Papunya Tula Artists or a passion for the art.

Paul Sweeney, Manager, Papunya Tula Artists.

I want to express my admiration for the project in its detail and thoroughness, and also to say that the product is immensely suggestive and illuminating of Namarari as a painter… The Master of Marnpi is full of brilliance, the result of perspiration and persistence, but also inspiration.

Professor Fred Myers, New York University.