Images of power: Batuan masters rediscovered<\/p>\n
By Jean Couteau<\/p>\n
UBUD, Bali (JP): While obviously very different from pre-
\ncolonial paintings, many modern Balinese have come to see the
\nstyles of painting born in Ubud and Batuan during the 1930s as
\n\"traditional\". A new exhibition of the Batuan paintings held in
\nthe ARMA -- Agung Rai Museum of Arts -- in Ubud is bringing a new
\nlight to the matter.<\/p>\n
Called Images of Power, after the name of a book written by
\nthe American anthropologic Hildred Geertz on the topic, the
\nexhibition (Oct. 14 to Nov. 19) presents some eighty mainly black
\nand white drawings by Batuan artists on commission by the renown
\nanthropologist Margaret Mead and her philosopher husband Gregory
\nBateson. When they commissioned these paintings between 1936 and
\n1938, the two were on a field trip to the \"Island of the gods\"
\nand eager to demonstrate the veracity of a theory of
\ncharacterological classification then trendy among American
\nacademics. The book they produced from the results of this field
\nwork, Balinese Character, albeit famous, is now largely out of
\ndate. But the paintings they brought back to the US are, judged
\nfrom the quality of the exhibition at ARMA, obviously a monument
\nof Balinese art.<\/p>\n
The late 1920s and early 1930s are special periods in Balinese
\nculture. Under the auspices of a colonial power well intent on
\nfurther Balinizing, and thus, better dominating Bali, there grew
\na weird, productive but unequal partnership between a few
\nmarginal Westerners -- artists, academics and traveling
\nsoul-searchers -- and mainstream village Balinese from Ubud,
\nBatuan and Sanur, all peasants well-ensconced in their village
\ntradition and the practice of its arts. The first brought their
\n\"taste\", the \"market\", the call for \"novel\" creation, and
\nparadoxically, a \"worship\" of Balinese tradition. Walter Spies
\nfrom 1927 on, Bonnet a few years later, then Covarrubias,
\nMargaret Mead and Bateson, and others, they have left such a mark
\non the Balinese that many still see themselves through the eyes
\nof these mythicized Tuans.<\/p>\n
The second brought their soul and their hand; most are now
\nforgotten. This resilience of the myth in this case of the
\nWesterners and the oblivion of the Balinese artists talks for the
\npervading dominance of \"lords\" over \"natives\", now North over
\nSouth.<\/p>\n
Therefore, one of the important aspects of this exhibition is
\nto put the \"native\" on at least an equal footing with the Tuans.<\/p>\n
Hildred Geertz, in her presentation of the works of the Batuan
\npainters, says that they are a bicultural endeavor which, \"rather
\nthan providing materials for an ethnography of Bali\" as may have
\nbeen expected by Margaret Mead and G. Bateson, gave instead an
\nethnography of Balinese imaginations. She continues, \"each
\npainting is an individual statement by a young person of Bali at
\na particular historical moment. Most of (these statements) are
\nphrased within a language of narratives, of folktales about
\nprinces and princesses but also of eventful actual confrontations
\nwith spirits and sorcerers... They have put their lives before
\nour eyes.\"<\/p>\n
Seen in the language of the anthropology of the arts, the main
\ndevelopment seen in the works of the Batuan painters is indeed
\nthat of the apparition of a personal language. Even when dressed
\nin the guise of the Balinese stories, the images presented to us
\nhave nothing in common with those we know from the older
\ntradition, when the art of painting was made for religious
\npurposes and consumed at religious occasions. This ancient
\nBalinese iconography is strictly codified; very little room is
\nleft to individual artist imagination and emotions. The
\nunderworld of Balinese belief or, to use the jargon of
\npsychoanalysis, the individual's subconsciousness, is kept under
\ntight rein. It is a world of iconic patterns which are
\nimmediately readable, with no surprise to one who knows its
\nlanguage.<\/p>\n
Collective soul<\/p>\n
Nothing such with the black and the white works of the
\nexhibition. No one will deny, at the look of the works as a
\nwhole, that they display general thematic and iconic features
\nwhich belong to the artists of the villages as a whole. The
\nartists thus show in their works, for lack of a better world, a
\ncollective \"soul\".<\/p>\n
Theirs is a world of spirit, witches, illness and death. This
\ndark psychic world, however, is in no way gagged and ultimately
\nsuppressed as it is in classical painting, where the subconscious
\nis \"sublimated\" into a sophisticated and highly didactic
\niconography. On the contrary, the dark sides of the Batuan
\nartist's individual soul freely come out. What they depict is
\nunmistakably true. It is the deepest layers of their personality
\none sees, not the sanitized ones such as shown in classical
\npaintings. The works indisputably show a step toward a certain
\nliberation and personalization of the Balinese arts.<\/p>\n
Part of the innovation may have been caused by the
\nanthropologists' specific demands. They were \"cultural
\nanthropologists\", focusing in the psychological aspects of the
\nnative souls. And, from what personal informants have told us,
\nthey may well have enticed the Balinese artists to unearth
\n\"images\" until then reserved to the world of magical practices.
\nTo the artists, this was scary indeed, and may account for the
\nfright one feels at the look of some of these images.<\/p>\n
Arguably no less important is the impact of new techniques
\nbrought by the Westerners, and in particular the use of paper and
\nink. They did not use the traditional colors anymore, each with
\nits symbolic -- and constraining -- significance. All was dark,
\nand \"darkened\". One is stunned by the expressionist quality of
\nmany of the works. The patterning of the forms derived from the
\nclassical iconography, in particular from the wayang and
\nwitchcraft imagery, is somehow relaxed. Features are made
\nsimpler, more expressive. The painters, discarding some of the
\nold rules, seem to exploring new forms, new patterns, better
\nsuited to their perception of the Niskala (abstract) world and
\nthus to the expression of the depth of their psyche. This naive
\nexpressionism is further emphasized by the stunning use of the
\nshading technique. Most of the paintings are stunning
\ncompositions of black and white, of light and darkness, the
\nRwabhinneda poles of Balinese culture and psyche.<\/p>\n
Beyond their collective appellation as Batuan painters, the
\nexhibition reveals individual talents. Indeed. Among them are
\nJatasoera, Tomblos, Togog, Taweng, Ngendon and Bala. Ngendon was
\nperhaps the most \"advanced\" in the depiction of his scenes and
\nthe sophistication of his compositions. He had in particular the
\nability to perceive the \"outside world\", as shown in one of his
\npaintings depicting Margaret Mead and G. Bateson departing for
\nNew Guinea. He had been in closer contact with the Westerners and
\ntheir ideas and he died fighting for the country's independence.
\nBut his world is nevertheless the same as that of the other
\nvillagers.<\/p>\n
Togog can be noted for the near geometric structure of his
\ncomposition, and Bala for the strength and simplicity of his
\ncomposition. None is \"individualized\" in the modern sense. They
\nare simply expressing, through their own personal talents, the
\nrichness and tensions of the Balinese psyche.<\/p>\n
What happened to this Batuan school between the 1930s and now?<\/p>\n
From the point of view of expression, the shackles released
\nfor a few years during the post-war period were reinstated. This
\ndid not mean a whitening of the school, though, but its
\ntransformation. As they were restoring the tight patterning of
\nthe iconography, post-war Batuan artists were also sharpening
\ntheir use of the shading and wash technique, in particular with
\nthe use of color, ending up with a new, highly sophisticated
\nschool of wayang miniaturists in the late 1960s and 1970s. Of
\nlate, alas, the quality of this miniaturist school has been
\ndeteriorating, owing to the change in the \"Balinese\" memory, now
\nshaped by television and school, and to the demands of the low-
\nscale tourism.<\/p>\n
If only for this very reason, it is important that this
\nexhibition be shown in Indonesia, and in particular, to Balinese
\nviewers. It is ironical, in this matter, that it almost bypassed
\nBali. Started in the United States, the exhibition was scheduled
\nto tour Australia and then to skip over Bali for Japan before
\nreturning to the States through Europe. It is only because of
\nAgung Rai's swiftness, and stubbornness, that Bali can now see,
\nand appreciate, the works of this important past.<\/p>",
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