Basel Rantji

1936 – 1999

Basel (or Basil) Rantji created loving interpretations of his country and was active in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1970s he portrayed the landscape with increasing delicacy and fine line work. He was not a prolific painter.

The artist was born at Hermannsburg in 1936. He was the son of Edward and Angelika. He was Western (Arrernte), Subsection (Skin) Pengarte. Basel’s father was the son of Rontji or Petrus (Palm Valley Land Claim no 48, 3.11.2). In 1957 Basel was in the Hermannsburg district with his wife Bernice Entata. He started painting around 1959.

The mid ground trees are placed carefully to increase the sense of space on the plain. Fine pen work became more emphatic.

Delicate line work is used to help describe the distant hills, softly, and with greater definition on the red rocky outcrops of the foreground. The painting is gently luminous.