Mary Rumble Pitjara

Mary Rumble Pitjara Paintings

Quick Facts:

  • Date of Birth: c. 1957

  • Place of Birth: Utopia Region, Northern Territory, Australia

  • Language Group: Anmatyerre (also recorded as Alyawarre)

  • Style of Art: Contemporary Aboriginal painting, acrylic on canvas and linen, fine dot work and bold colour fields

  • Aboriginal Art Status: Senior Utopia artist with a strong following

  • Themes: Bush Medicine Leaves, Bush Tucker, Bush Flowers, Bush Yam Seed, Anwekety (Bush Plum), Kangaroo Dreaming, Rock Hole Dreaming, My Country, Awelye (Women's Ceremony)

  • Family: Older sister of artist Katie Rumble Pitjara; niece of Gloria Petyarre, Kathleen Petyarre and Gracie Morton Pwerle; cousin of artist Dorothy Kunoth; mother of two children, Dorothy and Albert Kngwarreye

Mary Rumble Pitjara is a senior Anmatyerre artist from the Utopia region of Central Australia, part of one of the most celebrated painting families to come out of the region. Taught to paint by her own aunts, she has gone on to develop a body of work known for its unusual range, moving between the most intricately delicate detail and bold, powerful renditions of the same Country and stories.

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Early Life and Family

Mary Rumble Pitjara was born around 1957 in the Utopia region of Central Australia, roughly 350 kilometres northeast of Alice Springs. She comes from one of Utopia's most well-known artistic families: her aunts include Gloria Petyarre and Kathleen Petyarre, two of the most celebrated names to emerge from the region's painting movement, alongside Gracie Morton Pwerle. Mary is the older sister of fellow artist Katie Rumble Pitjara, and her cousin, Dorothy Kunoth, also paints. Mary herself has two children, Dorothy and Albert Kngwarreye, with Kenny Petyarre.

Mary draws her Dreaming stories from her father's Country, known as Atarrkerte. She divides her time between Arlparra, in the Utopia region, and Alice Springs.

Learning to Paint

Like many senior Utopia artists, Mary's earliest artistic training was in the women's batik movement, working alongside more than eighty other women from the Utopia region during the 1970s and 1980s. Her work from this period is featured in the book Utopia: A Picture Story, which documents the batik movement that first brought many Utopia women, including Mary's own aunts, into contemporary Aboriginal art.

Mary's aunts, Gloria Petyarre and Gracie Morton Pwerle, taught her to paint on canvas as the movement shifted from batik to acrylic through the 1980s and 1990s. Learning directly from artists of that calibre gave Mary a strong technical grounding, and she has been painting for Mbantua Gallery since October 2002.

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Dreaming Stories and Style

Mary's paintings are drawn from the stories of her father's Country, and cover a wide range of subjects: Bush Medicine Leaves, Bush Tucker, Bush Flowers, Bush Yam Seed, Anwekety (Bush Plum), Kangaroo Dreaming, Rock Hole Dreaming, her broader "My Country" landscapes, and Awelye, the body paint designs used by women during ceremony.

Unlike many of her contemporaries, who tend to work within one or two signature styles, Mary paints across several distinctive approaches, ranging from the most intricately delicate fine dot work, particularly visible in her Bush Medicine Leaves and Rock Hole paintings, to bolder, more powerful renditions using a broader palette and stronger colour fields. This versatility has become one of the defining features of her work, and has helped build her strong following among collectors of Utopia art.

Mary Rumble Pitjara Paintings

A Different Way to Own a Piece of Utopia

Mary Rumble Pitjara's work carries forward one of Central Australia's richest painting lineages, shaped by two generations of Utopia's finest artists. Bring home a painting with that depth of story and technique behind it.

Visit Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery, or contact us via phone at (03) 9497 5111 for more info on Mary Rumble’s masterpieces.

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