The Kluge-Ruhe is the only museum outside of Australia dedicated to the exhibition and study of Indigenous Australian art. Steve Martin, American actor, comedian, writer, producer, musician, and art aficionado claims “I was astounded by the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, a King Tut’s cache of Australian treasurers in the unlikely setting of the University of Virginia.”
The highlight of this OLLI Outing to the Kluge-Ruhe is the exhibit “Past and Present Together – Fifty Years of Papunya Tula Artists”. Papunya Tula Artists is Australia’s first Aboriginal arts company. The company foreshadowed the Australian government shifting its Indigenous policies from assimilation to self-determination.
In 1971, Papunya was an overcrowded, discordant government settlement on the eastern edge of the Australian western desert. In Papunya, elder men from diverse groups of displaced Aboriginal people began painting ancient narratives on scraps of cardboard, linoleum and building material. Within 25 years Papunya Tula Artists had created an art movement, Western Desert Art, and their canvases had made it to the world stage.
We’ll meet at the Kluge-Ruhe at 10 a.m. for a guided tour of the art galleries and on your own exploration. After a box lunch, there will be a Kluge Ruhe “sneak peek” presentation and opportunity to see the non-public collection storage area for art objects including bark paintings.
