The ‘Hermannsburg School’ refers to the artistic movement of watercolour painting in Ntaria Hermannsburg, in Western Aranda Country in Central Australia. Beginning in the 1930s with the work of now globally celebrated master painter Albert Namatjira, the tradition has continued to flourish over the decades since.

This exhibition of selected works spanning eight decades celebrates a major gift of over 100 Hermannsburg paintings to Bendigo Art Gallery from scholar and collector Dr Beverley Castleman and Mr Alan Castleman.

Dr Castleman’s collecting emphasised kinship connections through the generations of Hermannsburg School artists, tracing the evolution of the movement as artists have taught, inspired, and influenced each other—and developed their own distinctive styles. This relational lens has generated a collection of extraordinary breadth and uniqueness, offering rich opportunities for research and appreciation.

This inaugural presentation of selected works from the gift visualises the intergenerational connections through the Hermannsburg School. The exhibition pays tribute to the trailblazing artist at the heart of the movement, Albert Namatjira. An artist of great skill, dexterity and foresight as a painter of Country on the international stage, Namatjira was also generous and inclusive in bringing other artists in his family and community on the journey of watercolour. The exhibition traces the dynamic growth of the movement through the years since, including works by celebrated contemporary painters of Iltja Ntjarra / Many Hands Art Centre, the present day home of the Hermannsburg School of watercolour painting.

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