Downs Untitled:2008 Acrylic on canvas

Maryanne Downs
Untitled 2008
Acrylic on canvas 120 x120cm
Catalogue:82308

    Skin:  Nyapajarri

    Language:  Walmajarri

    Country:  Kurtal

    D.O.B.  c.1945

    Collections
    Art Gallery of NSW
    National Gallery of Victoria
    National Gallery of Australia

    Essay by Dr Jo Lagerberg, July 2009

     

    Maryanne Downs is one of the most exciting senior aboriginal women artists painting in Australia at present.  Her work is full of energy, joy and the beauty of the landscape she paints.

    A 65 year old Walmajarri woman she was born in Kurtal Jila near Bililuna, but now she lives in Fitzroy Crossing and paints for Mangkaja.  The town of Fitzroy Crossing is made up of predominantly Aboriginal people who left their country when they were young.  Many of the older people were born or grew up on pastoral stations.  Maryanne was one of these people and was raised on Louisa Downs Station.

    The township of Fitzroy Crossing was created after white colonisation as a ration depot and for refugees.  Consequently it was a real melting pot of different Aboriginal peoples under gadiya (white man) control.  The groups included the Walmajarri, Wangkajunka, Burba, Nyigira and Gooniyadi.

    Maryanne’s husband was a famous artist and lawman, Jarinyanu David Downs, who was approximately 20 years her senior.  He was not a conventional man and was unique and fearless.  His artwork was individual and he painted figurative and cartographic works which included Aboriginal and Christian “stories”.  Both David Downs and Peter Skipper both worked with Duncan Kentish, a South Australian who worked for years in Aboriginal Affairs and at Fitzroy.

    Initially Maryanne lived in her famous husband’s shadow.  She was devastated when he passed away in April, 1995.  Her work has really come into its own in the last 3 years.  Most of the figurative component of her work has disappeared and we now have “breakthrough work” that demonstrate an unconstrained energy.  She uses a thick brush loaded with colour and depicts her country - the same country as Tommy May – Kurtal Country.  I liken her work to that of “Monet” using splashes of colour to achieve effect.  The paintings are made up of thick dotting but remain loose and fluid.

    The fluidity is because the artists of Fitzroy did most of their initial work on paper (acrylic paint on paper).  This resulted in artwork that was free and lacked caution.  Subsequently the artworks from Fitzroy are full of vigour and have a spiritual quality that reflects a more emotional than highly structured response to their art.

    Maryanne depicts the sheer beauty of the countryside through her brilliant use of colour.  She uses pigment and colour to tell the stories about her country.  Her elegant yet passionate works transcend cultural barriers as her brushstrokes capture the beauty, rawness and the depth of the countryside.  Her works are not about detailed myths. Rather they address a broader understanding of landscape and the dynamic seasonal changes she has experienced.  Her colours truly reflect and match those of the land in different seasons as she is very definite about capturing the ‘true’ colours and forms.

    Like her renowned husband, her work is fearless and to quote a motto used to describe artworks from Fitzroy - precision is not a yardstick for excellence.