Looking for Dutchman's lost works of art<\/p>\n
Boudewijn Brands, Contributor, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
Over time, a large number of Westerners have produced works of
\nart in Indonesia. Dutch art collectors Haks and Maris have made
\nit their life's work to find information about each and every one
\nof them. This has resulted in the Lexicon of Foreign Artists who
\nVisualized Indonesia, published by Archipelago Press in 1995 and
\ncovering the period 1600 to 1950.<\/p>\n
It contains 303 pages, with seven names to eight names per
\npage, so about 2,000 artists are identified during this period.
\nWorks of art however, have a tendency to disappear over time.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, the climate is not at all conducive to the
\nconservation of artwork, especially that on paper. During the
\nJapanese occupation, the struggle for independence and the
\nturmoil in 1965, many works of art were damaged or disappeared.
\nIn a number of cases, known from publications, there are no
\nexamples of what they produced, and the lexicon says, \"No further
\nreference.\"<\/p>\n
A case in point is Johannes (Johan) Gabrielse, a Dutch artist
\nborn on Dec. 14, 1881, in Westkapelle on the island of Walcheren
\nin the Dutch province of Zeeland.<\/p>\n
He attended art academy in Amsterdam and worked as a painter,
\ndraughtsman and graphic artist. He got a job with well-known
\nDutch educational publisher Wolters, for which he made a number
\nof posters used for educational purposes. The Wolters Company
\nsent him on a number of trips in order to produce illustrative
\nmaterial.<\/p>\n
He traveled extensively in Europe for illustrations for
\n\"Europe in words and pictures\".<\/p>\n
In 1920, he was sent to Indonesia, from where he returned to
\nthe Netherlands in 1921. The resulting posters about Indonesia
\nwere used in schools in the Netherlands until the end of the
\n1950s, generating knowledge of and interest in Indonesia for a
\nlarge number of Dutch. Many became tourists who wanted to see in
\nreal life what he had drawn.<\/p>\n
In 1931 Gabrielse's Sketchbook of His Trip to and in Indonesia
\nwas published, containing many of his sketches made there. During
\nthis stay, Johan Gabrielse fell in love with the country and its
\npeople. He managed to get back to Indonesia in 1938 with his wife
\nand continued to work and travel there.<\/p>\n
He proved his skill as a painter with a delicate painting of a
\nserimpi dancer from the Yogyakarta palace, which is now part of
\nthe collection of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) in
\nAmsterdam.<\/p>\n
He also painted several portraits of Javanese royalty, for
\nexample a life-sized portrait of Sri Susuhunan Paku Buwono XI of
\nSolo, in 1940. When he came to Indonesia, he had with him a
\nnumber of paintings made in Europe that he exhibited here with
\nhis locally made work.<\/p>\n
Then World War II broke out, followed by the Japanese
\noccupation. In 1942, Johan Gabrielse, in anticipation of worse to
\ncome, packed up most of his work, paintings and drawings in seven
\nwooden boxes and left them at Hotel Karangpandan at the place of
\nthe same name near Surakarta.<\/p>\n
In 1943, the Japanese caught him and his wife and they were
\nsent to Ambarawa camp near Semarang. Johan Gabrielse died there
\nin June 1945 of exhaustion and malaria. His wife survived and
\nreturned to the Netherlands in 1946. She made several attempts to
\nretrieve the paintings, but to no avail. This was because the
\nboxes were no longer at Hotel Karangpandan.<\/p>\n
Could the Japanese have taken them? After all, some of the
\nofficers were known for their love of fine art and had protected
\nartists as far as they could, for instance the Hofkers on Bali.<\/p>\n
Would this be the end of the story? The answer is no. Sebe
\nEmmelot, a young Dutchman, is now in Indonesia looking for these
\nworks of art. His grandmother is a daughter of Johan Gabrielse
\nand he is also an illustrator and painter, just like his great-
\ngrandfather.<\/p>\n
Said Sebe: \"I know I have only a very small chance of finding
\nthese paintings after all these years, but I'm trying hard for
\nthe honor of my great-grandfather and his work. For this reason I
\nam asking the readers of this article, if someone should know
\nanything about this story or anything about the destiny of his
\nlost paintings, please contact me!\"<\/p>\n
According to Sebe, one or two boxes contained work produced in
\nEurope and the remainder were made in Indonesia and have
\nIndonesia as a subject, including landscapes and portraits. Some
\nof these portraits are those of Sebe's direct family. They
\nprobably are all signed \"Gabrielse\". Sebe has promised a reward
\nto anyone giving information leading to the recovery of the work.<\/p>\n
Sebe can be reached by phone on 0817 9418396 or via e-mail at
\nemmelotsebe@hotmail.com. He is staying in Yogyakarta until June
\n25, 2003.<\/p>",
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