Rex Battarbee

Reginald Ernest Battarbee (16 December 1893 – 2 September 1973) was an Australian artist notable for painting landscapes of Central Australia, and for teaching Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira to paint.

Rex Battarbee was born in Warrnambool, Victoria and educated at the local state school and at Warrnambool Academy. In January 1916, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and joined the 58th Battalion in France. During the fighting at Bullecourt, he was shot through the chest, face and both arms. He was invalided to Australia and hospitalized until late 1920; his left arm remained crippled. Unable to resume farmwork, in 1921–23 Battarbee studied commercial art in Melbourne, but developed a preference for the outdoor life of a landscape painter.

In 1928, he and fellow commercial artist John Gardner bought a T-model Ford which had been converted to a caravan and set out on a fifteen-month trip, painting in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Two years later they travelled to western New South Wales and the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. Their work appeared in successful exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney. On an expedition to South and Central Australia in 1932, they showed their paintings at the Hermannsburg Lutheran mission, on the Finke River, west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Returning to the area in 1934 to paint the Macdonnell and James ranges, Battarbee and Gardner again displayed their work at Hermannsburg—this time for the benefit of the Aborigines. The representation of places familiar to the local Aranda (Arunta) people had great impact; among the viewers was Albert Namatjira, then known simply as Albert, who asked for materials in order to do his own painting.

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