John Kean writes: “For those outside the Luritja/Ngaliya community of Papunya, Don Ellis Tjapanunka is a liminal figure. He appears in the middle ground of photographs, among more famous painters during the creation of the Honey Ant Mural in the winter of 1971. Geoffrey Bardon remembers that he and Kaapa Tjampitjinpa were the only men painting regularly before the creation of the mural, (1) and that he worked under the supervision of his father Old Tom Onion Tjapangati, on that project. (2) Don Ellis is also known for the distinctive paintings he created at the time. …
In 1972, just as Western Desert painting found its enduring form, Don Ellis moved to Yuendumu and thus disappeared from the artistic record. Dick Kimber has recalled that he recommenced painting briefly in the mid 70s, immediately before he was murdered, by a madman in the dry sand bed of the Todd River at Alice Springs. Don Ellis is still remembered by relatives at Papunya however and his artistic legacy persists in the work of granddaughter, Lorna Brown Napanunka. (3)
(1) Geoffrey and James Bardon, Papunya: A Place Made After the Story: The Beginnings of the Western Desert Painting Movement, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2004, p. 20
(2)Ibid. pp. 12-19
(3) Vivien Johnson, Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists, Alice Springs, IAD Press, 2008, p. 46
(4) op. cit. p. 107
(Description of Don Ellis taken from Smith & Singer auction notes Lot 38 5/6/2012) Helen Read