Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (1933 – 21/06/02) was an Australian painter considered to be one of the most collected and renowned of Australian Aboriginal Artists. His paintings are held in galleries and collections throughout the world, not only in Australia. He was the most famous of the Aboriginal Artists who lived around Papunya, in the Northern Territory’s Western Desert area, when the acrylic painting style (known popularly as “dot art”) was initiated. Clifford Possum emerged as one of the leaders of this style of painting, which has come to be called Papunya Tula.

When it held an exhibition of his work in 2004, the Art Gallery of New South Wales described his artistic background:

He was an expert wood-carver and took up painting long before the emergence of the Papunya Tula School in the early 1970s. When Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri joined this group of ‘dot and circle’ painters early in 1972 he immediately distinguished himself as one of its most talented members and went on to create some of the largest and most complex paintings ever produced.

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri led a groundbreaking career and was amongst the vanguard of Indigenous Australian artists to be recognised by the international art world. Like Albert Namatjira before him, Clifford Possum blazed a trail for future generations of Indigenous artists; bridging the gap between Aboriginal Art and contemporary Australian art.

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri died in Alice Springs on the day he was scheduled to receive an Order of Australia medal recognising his contribution to art and to the Indigenous community. His obituaries, which appeared in newspapers around the world, generally referred to him as Clifford Possum and gave his age as about 70. While his year of birth is considered to be approximately correct, the day and month remained undocumented. His two daughters, Gabriella Possum Nungurayyi and Michelle Possum Nungurayyi, are renowned artists in their own right.