Wattie Karruwara

Wattie Karruwara was born in the Hunter River basin in the far north west of Western Australia c1910. The artist best known for a series of watercolours produced on paper, including this beautiful image, that were the result of a friendship developed between the artist and American anthropologist John McCaffrey who, in the early 1960's, noting Wattie's genius, provided him with small flat painting surfaces. Initially these took the form of portable barks, which McCaffrey had flown from Arnhem Land through Professor Roland Berndt as bark painting was not a Kimberley tradition. However the difficulty in obtaining the bark led the anthropologist to look for a simpler medium and, in Perth, he purchased the best quality paper and Windsor and Newton watercolour paints (Flynn 2003). The results were astounding and McCaffrey noted that Wattie painted 'sometimes up to eight hours straight, in a trance like state with eyes open' (cited in Flynn 2003: 10). Karruwara completed the series at the Derby Leprosarium after being diagnosed with leprosy. His friend McCaffrey 'spoke sadly of his leave-taking of Wattie, and was pleased to learn in 1997... that Wattie had later been released, and had lived until 1983' (Flynn 2003: 10). In all, more than 38 watercolours resulted from their exchange, the beauty of which resides in the naive charm of the colourful semi-naturalistic depictions of the flora and fauna of his country.