Illara Creek, Western James Range, Central Australia 1945

Albert Namatjira made this watercolor painting of Illara Creek in the Western James Range of Central Australia with such skill, and such a love of the land. Look at the way he patiently built up the forms of the rock face. The watercolor is applied in delicate washes, one layer over another. Namatjira coaxes out the craggy surface of the rocks. The eye is drawn to the top right corner, where he has left a small, unpainted patch of the paper – it makes you wonder what that little moment of whiteness might be? A bird? A cloud? A memory? The painting embraces these kinds of ambiguities. Namatjira's work reminds me of Marsden Hartley, and other early 20th century painters who wanted to capture the essence of a place. Both artists invite us to pause and see the world, not as a fixed, singular thing, but as a continuous, unfolding process.