A glorious homage to Indonesian batik

A glorious homage to Indonesian batik

Batik: Spirit of Indonesia; Published jointly by Yayasan
Batik Indonesia (The Indonesian Batik Foundation), PT Buku Antar
Bangsa and Singapore-based Editions Didier Millet; 232 pp.

JAKARTA (JP): Batik is more than just a piece of dyed-textile.
The meticulously designed fabric embodies a wealth social and
cultural values, at least for Javanese people who have been
wearing traditional batik garments for hundreds of years.

For most Indonesians, batik has become one of their cultural
brands. Its beautiful designs and elaborate dying techniques have
compelled a large number of scholars to comprehensively reveal
the history behind these highly artistic fabrics.

Unfortunately, most of the studies and writings on batik have
been undertaken by foreign scholars, textile artists and art
historians. Only several Indonesians, including batik master Iwan
Tirta and textile expert Nian Djoemena, have dedicated their
lives to exploring the history of batik and compile a number of
precious books.

Based on this gloomy fact, the non-profit organization Yayasan
Batik Indonesia (the Indonesian Batik Foundation) initiated the
publication of a book entitled Batik: Spirit of Indonesia which
focuses on batik from an Indonesian perspective.

The 232-page book presents analytical essays on batik from
different angles. These include writings by archaeologist Rony
Siswandi; the beau of famous batik maker Josephine Komara, or
Obin, Nian Djoemena; Judi Achjadi; Iwan Tirta; Asmoro Damais; art
critic Suwarno Wisetrotomo; and highly respected batik guru KRHT
Hardjonagoro, or Go Tik Swan.

At first glance, it will seem a formidable task to embark on
digesting this thick hardback, but readers will soon discover
that its essays occupy only 46 of the 232 pages, while the
remaining pages are filled with a wonderful photographic display.

The book is divided into two parts. The first section
describes the story of batik and the fabric's history.

Archaeologist Rony Siswandi writes in The Roots of Tradition
about the early history of batik in Indonesia.

There are five broad categories of batik traditions in
Indonesia, divided and categorized according to technique, each
manifesting a number of factors that may have been active in its
evolution.

Batik evolved from a simple cloth to a more sophisticated
fabric in line with the development of waxing, dying techniques
as well as designs and motifs, Rony maintains.

Nian Djoemena explores the regional variations of batik. Batik
has been produced in several regions in Indonesia. Each variation
has its own characteristics deriving from a relationship with
religious beliefs, traditional and social systems, geographical
location, foreign interaction and local history.

Nian said the batik designs were not solely created for
aesthetic reasons, but also as a means of education, a guide on
how to conduct oneself throughout the cycle of life. Despite this
varied background, however, batik falls into two broad
categories, Surakarta and Yogyakarta, referred to as the
Principalities, and other coastal areas of Java.

Meanwhile, Judi Achjadi explores the condition of the batik
industry entering the 20th century. The involvement of non-
Javanese (Europeans, Eurasians, Chinese and Arabs) in the
process, as both producers and users, expanded the scope of
batik's design and color vocabulary.

The second part of the book deals with the use of batik in the
present time -- in the home, fashion and fine arts.

Asmoro Damais discloses the role of Indonesia's first
president Sukarno in promoting batik as a national symbol.

She also mentions the roles of the United Nation Development
Program (UNDP) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) in
supporting local craftspeople. Under the program for crafts in
Third World countries, established in the early l960s, UNDP/ILO
provided technical assistance to modernize Indonesian crafts,
including batik.

The program encouraged local batik makers to improve quality
and to experiment with new techniques and designs in an attempt
to develop batik as a furnishing fabric, for home interiors and
other decorative uses.

Apart from the use of batik as a decorative item, it is also
interesting to learn how batik was transformed into a fine art.

Art critic Suwarno Wisetrotomo from the Yogyakarta Arts
Institute (ISI) recorded that there was heated debate among local
artists on the emergence of batik painters.

The controversy was aroused with the appearance of Gerakan
Seni Rupa Baru, which grouped young artists from ISI in
Yogyakarta with those of the Bandung Institute of Technology
(ITB), who launched a new theory to explode the notion of
conventional arts by expanding on the traditional disciplines
acknowledged as a legitimate art form.

Fine arts, the artists argued, was much more than painting,
carving, sculpture, graphics etc. Other fields, including the
design and crafting of batik, had to be embraced in the wider
framework of art.

In the final chapter batik master Iwan Tirta explores the
history of batik in local and international fashion.

It was not until the l950s that batik garments in Indonesia
developed beyond the traditional rectangular-shaped cloth. As a
batik artist and couturier, Iwan eloquently reveals the journey
of batik from traditional cloth to western-style designs and even
couture outfits.

The book's text is definitely an interesting read, despite the
authors scholarly, and sometimes boring, styles of writing. Kudos
must be given to the book's photographers who provide beautiful
pictures illustrating the various batik motifs. Private photos
and documentation borrowed from ardent batik collectors and the
Javanese royal families have added more value to this book. The
most disturbing pictures are those portraying Jakarta's elites
wearing batik dresses in tacky poses.

The book's jacket is also elegantly designed. A famous batik
designer once informed the foundation's chairman that the wife of
a Golkar figure prominent at the time had asked him to create a
book cover design in yellow, the party's signature color. Thanks
to the reform movement, the book in question now appears with a
very artistic jacket, exposing batik tool-making with a classic
soga-brown batik design in the background instead of yellow.

One thing that is dismaying about this publication is that the
book is only published in English. If the foundation really is
eager to promote and preserve batik as an integral part of
Indonesia's cultural heritage, the book should be published
bilingually so that Indonesians, particularly the younger
generations, are able to appreciate batik even more.

-- Rita A.Widiadana