Otto Pareroultja’s landscapes are some of the most powerful and expressive of the first generation of watercolourists. Compared to many of his counterparts, including his artist brothers Edwin and Reuben, Otto harnesses a bold use of line and contrast that emphasises geometric forms within the landscape. Otto is thought to have placed importance on private, spiritual meanings in his paintings, in line with ancestral Aranda stories. His frequent depictions of ghost gums, for example, with strong black and white markings, are suggestive of rings painted on sacred poles in the area, in harmony with Aranda Dreamings of ghost gums rising from the abandoned poles of travelling ancestors.
Otto Pareroultja
Australian 1914–1973
Ghost Gum, James Range c. 1955
watercolour; laid down
53.5 x 72.5 cm (image) 54.0 x 74.5 cm (sheet)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
The Joseph Brown Collection. Presented through the NGV Foundation by Dr Joseph Brown AO OBE, Honorary Life Benefactor, 2004 (2004.252)
© estate of the artist │ Aboriginal Artists Agency Limited
