Paris, 27 September 2012

The new publication by Editions Scala was recently announced : Aboriginal painting, a book by Stéphane Jacob, Pierre Grundmann et Maïa Ponsonnet.

Since 1970 in Australia, thanks to the accessibility of canvas, innovatory and unclassifiable masterpieces are being created by the artists of the desert; the world discovered the local minorities, lost in the Bush: Papunya, Utopia, Yuendumu… as well as astonishing artists, old cowboys, 80 years old women, who paint without having ever received any fine arts education. This book portrays this amazing artists and poses the question about the place of Aboriginal art in the modern artistic world.

For a long time Aboriginal art was interesting only for primitive art and ethnography museums, now it has finally been discovered and makes an appearance in art museums, contemporary art exhibitions and private collections.

Stéphane Jacob runs the gallery “Arts d’Australie” and he is a member of the Chambre Nationale des Experts Spécialisés en Objets d’Art et de Collection (C.N.E.S.). He is a co-author of the catalogue for the musée des Confluences in Lyon and signatory of the Australian ethnic chart Indigenous Art Code, since 1996 he is devoted to the promotion of Australian art and its contemporary artists.

Pierre Grundmann is a journalist and French-Australian writer. He was a correspondent of Libération in Australia and an author of numerous publications, like the following: Australie (Autrement), Surfeuses Paradise (Hachette Littérature) and Australie Évasion (Hachette).

Maïa Ponsonnet is an ethnologist and linguist, specialised in the language of Dalabon and Kriol. She is also an author of Les Nouveaux Chants du kangourou (Autrement, 2008) and L’État du Monde, Australie (La Découverte; in cooperation with Pierre Grundmann).