Maria Hofker helps bring Bali to the world<\/p>\n
By Boudewijn Brands<\/p>\n
AMSTERDAM (JP): This is a story of another of those foreign
\npainters who fell in love with Bali.<\/p>\n
The works of Maria Hofker, 95, were among those which brought
\nBali to the world, though she has been largely overshadowed by
\nher husband's art.<\/p>\n
Her sketches and watercolors have been collected in several
\nbooks, including Indonesian Impressions, published in 1994 in the
\nNetherlands. It is a selection of text and illustrations of four
\nof her surviving booklets: Bandung and Pangandaran; Bali, Woman
\nat Work; Remembrances of Legong and Djanger and Ballad of the
\nFarmer.<\/p>\n
Her works reflect a keen eye for nature's beauty and the life
\nof hard working farmers. Until now, Hofker has had 35
\nexhibitions, mainly held in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
Her work was reproduced in book form for the first time,
\ntogether with reproductions of some of her husband's work, in
\n1978 shortly before he died in 1981. The book was titled Bali,
\npublished by the Omniboek in The Hague.<\/p>\n
Born in 1902, Maria Rueter was maybe a typical child of her
\ntime in a family of artists. As a child she always liked art and
\nnature but at that time art was not thought of as a career
\npossibility for a woman.<\/p>\n
So Maria learned a trade: bookbinding and calligraphy. She
\nworked commercially from her parents' home for five years after
\nfinishing her education.<\/p>\n
In 1930, she met and married Willem Hofker and helped him with
\nhis career as a painter. As was expected from a good Dutch woman
\nin those days, she lived for her husband.<\/p>\n
But then came Indonesia. In 1936 Willem Hofker got an
\nassignment to paint a portrait of Queen Wilhelmina for offices in
\nBatavia, the name for Jakarta during colonial times. In January
\n1938 they sailed with the painting to hand deliver it.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, Maria found a lot of time on her hands. When in
\nBandung, she made her first sketches and watercolors.<\/p>\n
She sent watercolors of fruits in letters to her parents.
\nThese are still well preserved today. The couple continued to
\ntravel to Bali and stay with a painter in his simple bamboo house
\nin Klandis Kedaton.<\/p>\n
The house was on the grounds of the temple well known locally
\nfor famous legong dancers as Ni Sadri and Ni Cawan.<\/p>\n
The Hofkers got acquainted with the few scientists and artists
\nstaying in Bali at the time, including American anthropologist
\nMargaret Mead.<\/p>\n
Artists from all nationalities seemed to be attracted to the
\nisland, such as Walter Spies, Locatelli, Strasser, le Mayeur de
\nMerpres, Dooijewaard and Rudolf Bonnet.<\/p>\n
Maria reflected on the fascination with Bali: "You felt the
\nwisdom of the East, a wisdom I could not grasp completely, but
\nfor which I opened myself and from which radiated enormous power.
\nIt was a completely new and inspiring experience; we forgot about
\nreturning home."<\/p>\n
The couple eventually lived in Ubud. Maria started to write
\nshort stories on life in Bali and these "impressions", as she
\ncalled them, were published in magazines and a newspaper. She
\nprovided calligraphies and illustrations for some of these
\nstories, then bound them in Balinese cloth.<\/p>\n
On Feb. 19, 1942, Japanese forces occupied Bali and the couple
\nwere imprisoned.<\/p>\n
They were released six weeks later when the Japanese commander
\nof Bali turned up and said their policy did not include jailing
\nartists.<\/p>\n
Before Christmas 1943, Willem and Maria were separated and put
\nin different civilian camps in Sulawesi. Here, Maria's camp was
\nbombed and most of her work destroyed. In February 1946, they
\nreturned to the Netherlands, never to see Bali again.<\/p>\n
Their life was transferred from the open, warm tropics to a
\ncold brick apartment. However, they felt spiritually enriched and
\ngradually both succeeded to get new jobs.<\/p>\n
In 1948, Maria got a garden on the outskirts of Amsterdam.
\nThis much coveted garden, which became the subject of a few of
\nher books, enabled her to combine her artistic talents developed
\nin Indonesia with her love for nature.<\/p>\n
She put a rich choice of plants in her garden, leaving a lot
\nto nature, not making it too organized. She wrote her
\nobservations in a diary and made beautifully calligraphed and
\nillustrated yearbooks which were published. She did this as much
\nfor commercial reasons as for herself.<\/p>\n
She did not sell many of her paintings; the couple lived off
\nthe sales of her husband's works, which has still been a subject
\nof interest by the Glerum art auction house in the Netherlands.<\/p>",
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