A group of indigenous artists whose works were set to feature in a major national exhibition "exercised effective creative control" over the works, an independent review has found.
The National Gallery of Australia released the findings Wednesday of the review into the provenance of the 28 paintings that formed the Ngura Pulka - Epic Country exhibition that had been due to open in June.
The exhibition had been officially postponed after questions arose as to whether non-Indigenous artists played a role in painting parts of the works.
The large-scale artworks are attributed to Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara artists, who live in remote South Australia.
But controversy arose when a video emerged which appeared to show a non-Aboriginal assistant helping to paint one of the artworks.
The APY Art Centre Collective denied any accusations staff meddled with paintings, but the gallery decided to postpone the exhibition indefinitely to give the independent review team more time to complete its report.
The review handed down has found the works in question "comply with the National Gallery's provenance policy".
"We emphasise that in an enquiry seeking to establish artistic provenance, the word of the artist on attribution is of utmost importance, and here it was given by each of the artists interviewed, without hesitation or qualification," the report said.
"[W]e placed considerable weight on this and other similar evidence and determined that it should only be reviewed where we had plausible contradictory evidence of a direct nature.
"At the same time, we observe that we did receive evidence that contradicted the artists' claims of independent creation. Mindful of the seriousness of the allegations, we have carefully reviewed this contradicting evidence, as we are obliged to do as independent reviewers.
[W]e have found in favour of the artists' evidence and those who have given evidence supportive of the artists' evidence. Accordingly, based on the extensive evidence we have assessed, we are of the opinion that the 28 paintings comply with the Provenance Standards of the National Gallery."
Gallery director Nick Mitzevich said the review findings were a relief both for the gallery and the artists involved.
"In the end, the conflicting evidence would not stand up to the scrutiny of facts," he said.
"What the review does is really give us a sense of confidence about the authorship of these works."
He said the controversy and review had opened up discussion around how art was created.
"Even throughout history, art has always been a collaborative endeavour," he said.
"Artists choose how they make art, and I think the real issue is who has creative control.
"Many artists use fabricators to make their work. Authorship throughout time has been about an idea, and it's the artist's idea.
"It's really up to the artists to decide how they make the works of art.
"The report did scrutinise a lot of the accusations and they didn't come up to scratch - the voice of the artists or the views of the artists have been privileged. I think that's an important point to make."
He confirmed the exhibition would now be able to go ahead, at a date to be determined.
"That's something that we'll be methodical about and we'll work with the artists directly and I'll go to the APY lands and work with them closely," he said.
"Public institutions are robust, but artists are sensitive and it's been a very difficult period for those artists. I think we want to focus on our duty of care for the artists, which will be our number one priority."
