Breaking: Namatjira artworks & royalties back in family hands | Welcome To Country

A battle that lasted over half a century came to a sudden end this week when Legend Press reached an agreement with the Namatjira family.

Source: Breaking: Namatjira artworks & royalties back in family hands | Welcome To Country

Namatjira artworks & royalties back in family hands

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albert namatjira royalties handed back to family

A battle that lasted over half a century came to a sudden end this week when Legend Press reached an agreement with the Namatjira family.

After decades of fighting for the ownership of Albert Namatjira’s paintings, the Namatjira family is in shock after a sudden deal was struck that now sees the ownership of the paintings as well as the royalties put back in the family’s hands.

The deal happened after Dick Smith, intervened and talked some sense into the matter. Dick is a long time friend of, Philip Brackenreg, who is a part owner of Legend Press. His phone call only took 15 minutes before the family decided to do what was right. And now after a nominal transfer fee of $1 was paid, the Namatjira family have full control over the artworks. Dick Smith also dontated $250,000 to the Namatjira trust.

There has been pressure on the Brackenreg family to come to an agreement with the family for many years. Complaints also came from galleries who said the copyright controls by the family were too restrictive. This year however pressure reached new levels with a campaign that called for an end to this injustice which included the Big HART documentary Namatjira project.

The Namatjira family have already made it quite clear that the heavy copyright restrictions will now become a thing of the past as they would like all people to witness the masterpieces created by Albert, who is still one of the most famous artists Australia has ever seen.