Item #131295 The Art of Albert Namatjira. Albert NAMATJIRA, C. P. MOUNTFORD.
The Art of Albert Namatjira

The Art of Albert Namatjira

Melbourne, Bread and Cheese Club, 1953 (seventh edition)/ 1944.

Quarto, 79 pages with 11 illustrations and 10 colour plates.

Flush-cut blue papered boards slightly sunned around the spine, with a tiny chip to the head of the rear joint; small ownership signature on the front flyleaf; an excellent copy with the slightly chipped and marked dustwrapper (designed by Albert Namatjira, and - quite unusually - it is indexed as one of the illustrations). Loosely inserted is a later letter of minor relevance.

The first monograph on Albert Namatjira (thus making it the first monograph on any Indigenous artist). Demand saw it go through eight editions, with the last one published in 1955. This copy is signed in blue ink by Albert Namatjira in the margin below his frontispiece portrait; Charles Mountford has signed the title page (probably with the same pen). Copies signed by the author are uncommon; copies signed by the artist are more than scarce; copies signed by both men are very rare in our experience.

Item #131295

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