YAYASAN SENI RUDANA - BABBOOKSbabbooks.com/home/assets/books/BALI INSPIRES.pdfgestures. Dewa Putu Bedil is characterized by a sophisticated use of pastel-hued colors, which gives his

YAYASAN SENI RUDANA

THE RUDANA ART COLLECTION

AdvisorNYOMAN RUDANA

Founder of Museum Rudana

Project DirectorPUTU SUPADMA RUDANA

Editorial AdvisorJOOP AVÉ

AuthorJEAN COUTEAU

EditorSHERRY KASMAN ENTUS

PhotographersKOES KARNADI

EKY TANDYO

Creative DirectorRAFLI L. SATO

Production and Layout AssistantsARI WIDJANARKO

SAMSURIARDIAN FAJRI

Published by YAYASAN SENI RUDANAJl. Cok Rai Pudak No. 44, Peliatan Ubud - Bali 80571

Tel. 62 361 975 779Fax. 62 361 975 091www.therudana.org

email: [email protected]

Copyright © 2011YAYASAN SENI RUDANA

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission

of the copyright owners.

Designed and Produced by BAB PUBLISHING INDONESIA

Jl. Riau No. 4 - Menteng, Jakarta 10350www.babpublishing.com

First Edition, 2011ISBN 978-602-95704-1-0

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this book at the time of going to press. The Publisher cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies and omissions. Readers are advised to call the various

institutions, if appropriate, to verify details.

Acknowledgements

Many people have been involved in the making of this book. First of all we would like to express our appreciation to the great Indonesian painters

featured in the book.

Thanks are also due for the invaluable information and input provided by a number of skilled and

knowledgeable individuals, including: Management and Staff of Museum Rudana, Rudana Fine Art

Gallery, Yayasan Seni Rudana,Nyoman Muka, M. Bundhowi, Warih Wisatsana.

To all of the above, as well as the many others not mentioned here, the publisher would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude.

Contents6

Preface Putu Supadma Rudana

12

Part oneAn Island that Inspires

154

Part twoA Nation that Inspires

272

Part threeA Family that Inspires

306

AppendicesSelected Bibliography

Index

Bal i Inspi res 6|

7 Bal i Inspi res|

Preface

oppositeSrihadi SoedarsonoSolo, Central Java (1931)Putu Supadma Rudana, Putera Nusantara (2010)Oil Pastel on Paper75 x 55 cm

More Than a Simple Window on the World

The birth of a book like this, whether simple in appearance or otherwise, is like that of the lontar palm-leaf

manuscripts in days gone by. The aim was not just to tell a certain story or expound some noble precept, but

also to convey a set of brilliant ideas that defy the passage of time. Bali Inspires, which you are now reading,

aspires to do just that. It was, from its inception, intended to inspire the broadest of audiences, transcending

social, cultural, and national boundaries.

This book is more than a simple window on the world. Indeed, in a digital visual age, in which everything

tends to be instant (copy and paste) and there is scant respect for copyrights, the role of book publishing

becomes all the more essential: to encourage us to make a habit of reading—more attentively, with deep

appreciation, and giving writers the respect they deserve.

With this in mind, Bali Inspires was designed and realized not only to present the visual beauty of some

two- and three-dimensional artworks, but to delve into their philosophical values and historical background,

along with the lives of their creators. Thus, what is brought to the fore is a depth of analysis and wholeness of

meaning that reaches beyond the visible surface beauty of the images.

At a glance it may also be noted that a bit of the Rudana family’s story is included; this is none other than an

expression of just how extraordinary the creations of the artists of this country are. It was to honor these maestros

of traditional and modern art, who have dedicated their lives to the creation of masterpieces, that we felt called

upon to establish a museum fit to house their works, as a gift to the nation, and also, the world.

Museum Rudana, inaugurated on 26 December 1995, is an enduring testimony of appreciation of the

creative achievements of outstanding modern and contemporary masters, as well as skilled traditional artists.

The creations of I Gusti Nyoman Lempad and other traditional masters are harmoniously exhibited side-by-

side with selected modern works by Srihadi Soedarsono and other distinguished names.

Additionally, a range of artistic and cultural events are held at the museum. Always designed with an eye

to local wisdom and noble traditional values, these events are also open to trans-cultural and visionary ideas.

Although it would be impossible for details of all these activities to be included in Bali Inspires, their underlying

spirit and standard of quality are reflected within its pages.

The Rudana family firmly believe that art and culture are worth championing as the true soul of the

nation. This is especially so, considering how diverse, multi-ethnic, and multicultural Indonesian society is,

which virtually exposes it to the risk of seeds of discord being sown. Yet its arts and cultures, as reflected

in their forms and the values they carry, possess a universal nature, which enables us to bridge our various

differences and come together in true peace.

It is this universal nature that has consistently, over time, drawn people of all nations, from every corner of

the earth, to come and visit Museum Rudana year round. After all, isn’t it true that the prosperity of a nation

will be sustained when people recognize, from the outset, that the arts, along with other creative industries, are

an inexhaustible ‘goldmine’? Especially now that the exploration of natural resources is nearing its limits.

Bali Inspires is construed as an offering, dedicated to all lovers of beauty who believe that art has the

power to enlighten each of us and to inspire us, as human beings, to discover the true purpose of our lives.

The publication of this book was made possible by the collaboration and support of many people. Thanks

go to Mr. Joop Ave for his unflinching encouragement and guidance, to Jean Couteau for producing a text of

depth and clarity, to Rafli L. Sato as the creative director, to whom the book owes its beauty; and to all the

other friends who have tirelessly encouraged, promoted and assisted the process, from the initial preparatory

steps through to the realization of Bali Inspires.

Enjoy reading, and may you be inspired!

Putu Supadma Rudana

8Bal i Inspi res |

Introduction

Bali is a place that, for almost a century, has inspired people to come, to be ‘elsewhere’

and yet, feel at home. Beauty of landscape, extraordinary culture, warm welcome–Bali

has it all, and more. By its very difference, it symbolizes the essence of archipelagic

Indonesia: cultural diversity and syncretism.

As a Muslim majority country of 240 million inhabitants, Indonesia is proud to host a

Hindu population in its midst that is, in turn, proud of its national bonds. Bali, by being

‘Bali’, proclaims Indonesia’s openness and multiculturalism to the world.

Bali Inspires approaches Bali and Indonesia through the perspective of the visual

arts, showing how Balinese and Indonesian artists on the island have constructed and

presented their cultures to the world. The specific vantage is that of a major local patron

of the arts, the Rudana family; and the book is richly illustrated by artworks from the

Museum Rudana, Rudana Fine Art Gallery, and Rudana family’s private collections.

The book has a tripartite structure:

The first part, An Island that Inspires, focuses on the art and culture of Bali. First

setting Balinese culture in its broader historical context, it discusses the influence of

India in shaping Balinese literature and mythology, and of China in bringing techniques,

as well as serving as a model for Balinese iconography. It also shows how and why Bali

is still to this day considered the heir to an old Hindu-Buddhist civilization that has since

disappeared from the rest of the archipelago. The role of the arts in Balinese culture is

spelled out, explaining how architecture, sculpture and painting are tied to religion. The

style, techniques and symbolism of Balinese classical painting are decoded.

Most importantly, the text addresses the renewal of Balinese traditional art that

took place in the 1920s after European artists settled in Bali. The role of two foreign

artists in particular—Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet—is discussed, emphasizing the

resilience of the indigenous system of form beyond European influence. Then the styles

of the Renewal Period (Pita Maha) as well as post-war Balinese schools of painting are

detailed, with illustrations from the Rudana collections. Among those illustrations are

no less than 13 drawings by the great maestro I Gusti Nyoman Lempad. Captions are

provided as needed to explain the stories referenced in the visual works. A summary of

the key myths and epics is also given.

124An Is land that Inspi res |

UNDERSTANDING BALINESE ART

The Balinese have their own very particular aesthetics, with only minor differences

between pre-colonial art and the ‘traditional’ art of the late 1920s and 1930s. Full

appreciation of Balinese painting requires acceptance of the legitimacy of the following

characteristics:

Regarding space: whereas a Western and modern painting is centered around one or

several central ‘subjects’, forms, and/or color surfaces, so that the beholder can visually

grasp the theme right away, in a Balinese painting, the surface of the work is filled to

the point that nothing stands out. The beholder is as if blinded by the accumulation of

elements.

Regarding representation, all the elements are patterned. A Western (or modern)

painting is always uniquely structured and made of unpredictable forms. By contrast,

Balinese painting is surprise free. It consists of the combination of a limited number of

graphic patterns regularly distributed over the surface of the canvas. This reflects the

narrative origin of Balinese painting, rooted in the Wayang puppet theater. Indeed, in

pre-colonial painting, what mattered to the artist was the ability to convey his story in

such a way that the beholder could immediately identify the mythological characters—

gods, heroes, villains—involved. This required of the artist a perfect knowledge of the

corpus of Wayang stories and an ability to graphically reproduce its iconography of

reference as finely as possible in a painterly way.

For the same narrative purposes, a painting could also contain several contiguous

scenes diachronically related to one another, and often only separated by decorative

motifs. Furthermore, owing to their Wayang model, Balinese paintings were typically

flat. All characters were set at the same foreground level, seen in profile, without any

attempt at depth other than, occasionally, painting a character smaller or bigger. Finally,

composition bore the influence of the dualism of the Wayang screen.

To this day, the patterning and repetition of forms are as present as ever in Balinese

“‘village’ painting, in spite of new concerns for anatomy and perspective. The individual

graphic patterns ‘answer’ each other in symmetric and parallel ways, from the larger

pattern to the smaller ones: there are, for example, and similar birds in five or six different

spots, similar faces in ten, and similar trees or leaves repeated all over the surface.

opposite

Dewa Putu BedilPadangtegal, Ubud (1921-1999)Market Scene (1991)Ink, Acrylic on Canvas135 x 100 cm

Dewa Putu Bedil was a ‘disciple’ of the Dutch artist Rudolf Bonnet. This appears clearly from the relatively evolved anatomy of the characters gestures. Dewa Putu Bedil is characterized by a sophisticated use of pastel-hued colors, which gives his works their striking appearance compared to the works of most other Balinese artists. The scene is that of a market.

125 An Is land that Inspi res|


When looking at a work, the eye is directed from one pattern to the other; it deciphers

the individual components of the work rather than focusing on a visual center. The system

allows for a composition of sorts, albeit of an elementary type derived from the Wayang:

it opposes right and left, usually in a combination of symmetries and parallelisms, and

up and down, with the lower part of the painting being slightly more crowded. But rarely

a more complex organization.

Regarding technique: drawing and coloring lack freedom and are inter-related.

Drawing follows neither the movement of the hand nor that of wild imagination; it is,

painstakingly, the unfurling of the narrative memory, at the service of the patterned

forms of the iconography. Color, reciprocally, is never used to define a form by itself; it is

always contained within a graphic contour; and it is revealed through a complex layering

of Chinese ink, the variable thickness of which defines the hue. So color is never an

autonomous means of expression. It is mere coloring.

All these features point to a comic-strip type of art. And, of course, Balinese painting

is basically storytelling. Classical Balinese painting was mainly inspired by Wayang

episodes from the classical Indo-Balinese epics; many paintings also illustrated episodes

from the Panji cycle or from Islamic legends and stories. More recent works usually

depict the ‘story of happy Bali’: market scenes, women at bath, natural life, and so on.

The graphic patterns used to depict these scenes mirror a frame of mind which is only

marginally less normalized than in classical times. We have to accept this collective mind-

frame if we are ever to understand Balinese painting. Because it is within the system of

patterned iconography, constraining as it is to us, that Balinese artists, paradoxically, find

their liberty of expression—and their genius.

To fully appreciate a Balinese painting, one needs therefore to discard all Western

cultural bias. One should stop expecting a ‘visual focus’ and let the eye roam freely over

the surface, gaze at a patterned detail—the face of a woman, for example—delve into it,

identify a component sub-pattern—the woman’s shawl—and then roam on in search of

another detail. The eye should not fixedly contemplate the work from one vantage point,

as in the West, but rather ‘dance’ upon it, following step by step the lines of identification

of its drawing.

SUMMARY OF THE MAIN STORIES ILLUSTRATED

above: Balinese painting from the Pita Maha period rests on a graphic, narrative process that unrolls in a succession of well-defined phases: pencil drawing, contour drawing with ink, and a varied number of wash-ink layerings aimed at achieving a chiaroscuro grading, to be finalized by a layering of color in wash.


I Ketut SudanaUbud, (1937-2007)Arja OperaInk, Acrylic on Canvas135 x 95 cm

Seduction scene during a dance-drama performed by the characters known as Mantri Manis (a refined prince) and Galuh (a princess).


I Ketut KebutPengosekan, Ubud (1940)Peasant lifeInk, Acrylic on Canvas40 x 56 cm

Idyllic, Ubud-style depiction of Balinese peasant life in a manner heavily influenced by Bonnet.


I Ketut LiyerUbud 1922Harvest (1993)Ink, Acrylic on Canvas50 x 36 cm

One sees here the elongating tendency which is often found in Balinese village painting from Ubud.


I Ketut KastaPeliatan, Ubud (1945)Market Scene (1985)Ink, Acrylic on Canvas120 x 75 cm


I Ketut KastaPeliatan, Ubud (1945)Arja Opera (1989)Ink, Acrylic on Canvas120 x 72 cm

This painting represents a scene from an Arja (a form of sung dance-drama or folk opera) in which a woman courtier, kneeling, is explaining the situation to a prince and princess.


opposite

I Wayan DjudjulTebesaya, Ubud (1942- 2007)Arja Opera (1988)Ink, Acrylic on Canvas120 x 100 cm

This dance scene is a good illustration of I Wayan Djudul’s soft play of pen and brush, which makes him one of the most sought after artists of the Ubud school. The painting shows a representation of an Arja (sung dance-drama or folk opera) performance.

I Wayan DjudjulTebesaya, Ubud (1942- 2007)Jauk Dance (1992)Ink, Acrylic on Canvas90 x 60 cm

In this dance, the dancer plays the role of a demon (jauk). It was in the past part of the Barong performance, but has in the last 50 years been turned into a solo dance, which is shown being performed here. One sees the musicians in the background.


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