Then we have his sons born into an age of confusion but recognizing early the symptoms of an old order already doomed, turning their backs on their birthright and facing a future that held nothing but a question mark. With the collapse, not only of the old social system, but the old religion and the old arts, a depressing vacuum was left in a community that had once spent all its leisure hours in chanting, dancing and working on decorations. Therefore it was not surprising to see them turn out in their hundreds to view the work of these two white artists. Paintings of European scenes and white people would have bored them; but here were oil portraits of their own folk and water colours of their own homeland. The new art of the foreign intruder was beginning to speak to them in accents modulated by their own familiar environment. Here was an art that was worth emulating. By learning its techniques a full blooded aboriginal could win respect and social standing in the new but inescapable world of European ways and ideas; and he could do so without having to abjure all the emotional ties that bound him to his own homeland. It only needed a clever, gifted native to prove that the dark man could acquire the technical skills necessary to work in the new medium, and many followers were assured. No one at that time thought it possible for any aboriginal to acquire the necessary technical facility; but Albert Namatjira proved them wrong. Namatjira's first excursion into the world of colour was as Battarbee's camel boy during a painting expedition into the outbacks after the 1934 exhibition. While Battarbee painted the landscape Albert engaged in decorating his boomerangs with marks from a hot branding iron; these were then sold to tourists. Turning from the branding iron, Albert developed an interest in water colours and after four weeks' tuition by Battarbee in 1936 turned out a very creditable painting, “Erra and Ghost Gum, Glen Helen, MacDonnell Ranges”, original in possession of Battarbee, Alice Springs. Immediately, his potentiality was recognised and he forged ahead, quickly mastering the difficult art of water colour. However, since the technique of painting must be learned from some master in that medium, it was inevitable that he should model himself rather closely on Battarbee. To blame him for that is mere stupidity. We all learn from our predecessors and teachers. No modern painter is entirely uninfluenced by the past. Even should he consciously try to avoid the old rules and conventions, he still affords thereby clear evidence of his knowledge of those rules and conventions, and of his fear of being regarded as an unoriginal imitator unless he modifies or rejects them. Albert Namatjira in his paintings reveals a oneness of artist and subject, which is found only in a person as close to nature as he was. Many of Namatjira's critics have said he was merely an imitator of Battarbee, but this to me is untrue. Their similarity stems from their common objective—that of painting truthful, sympathetic and loving pictures of the finest landscape in Central Australia. Namatjira had no pathological fear of painting trees that were trees and mountains that were mountains, but he did draw the line at including a human figure in any of his work because of religious taboo. Of all the work of the 18 aboriginal Arunta artists, in only one painting by Enos Namatjira titled “Spearing an Emu” is the human figure depicted, and for this reason the work is of great interest and value. The other aboriginal artists, who learned to paint from Albert, including his three eldest sons Ewald, Enos and Keith, have not acquired quite the same technical skill and there tends to be a similarity in all their paintings. But in their best works they have achieved numerous stylistic idiosyncrasies of their own. From my own private research and what I have seen of the aboriginal artists' work, there are among the younger men several who have developed a more original or native style than Albert, such as the Pareroultja brothers and Richard Moketarinja. Unfortunately these aboriginal artists are painting far too many pictures each year. There is a ready market for their paintings, and in their desire to meet the public demand some of these artists lower their standards by attempting to exploit the familiar scenes to the limit. Over production is certainly not inducive to high artistic merit. No doubt many pictures have been sold which should have been destroyed. Even some of the pictures reproduced in “Modern Australian Aboriginal Art”, were in my opinion selected rather unfortunately; for nothing can be so ruinous to the reputation of an artist as his own worst creations. However, even in all-white exhibitions pictures are some times hung which do not reflect very highly on the skill or sensitivity of their creators. Namatjira was an artist who was wholly and sincerely captivated by the lights, the colours, the lines, and the shapes ever present in his home area. In his paintings he set forth the fine, grand, and beautiful scenes of this landscape with intense pride and feeling and with all the technical skill at his disposal. Because he had the courage and conviction to portray his scenes so vividly and in the violent colours decreed by nature he was often the butt of severe criticism by city-bred critics. They wrote and spoke about the harsh reds and heavy purples of an eroded, sunburnt country, the monstrous shapes of rocks and mountains, of paintings done in the interior, and one realizes instantly that they have been emotionally repelled not only by the paintings but by the landscape as well. Yet these same critics would wax lyrical over the work of Gaugin whose trade mark was to emphasize the best points of his work with brilliant, harsh colours and outrageous distortions.