Another RI auction house opens up in Singapore

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta

For art lovers, connoisseurs and art collectors, auctions are usually events of great joy and high expectation.

They are opportunities to meet friends and acquaintances, see art works at previews that are like exquisite art exhibitions or and become the proud owner of a beautiful catalog that will stand out on the shelves of a home library.

With an abundance of auctions held in the region, there is certainly plenty of art available. But it seems that "plenty" is still not enough.

As of this coming Saturday, there will be more, especially for the international art crowd, for Indonesian auction house Borobudur is going international.

On that day, it will hold its inaugural auction at Shangri-La hotel Singapore. Will they be competing with Larasati auction house, which has earlier jumped to Singapore? "Not really," says John Andreas, Borobudur's boss who would rather be seen as another Indonesian contributor to the international art scene.

Unlike the usual number of lots that lie between 100 and 200, Borobudur is featuring only 32. But they are of the best quality and made by world renowned masters, insists the Borobudur owner, who comes from a shipping business background.

"It is a family business called Benua Samudra Sentosa", elaborates 36-year-old John, who began his love affair with art collecting in 1998.

While Affandi, Miguel Covarrubias, Hendra Gunawan, Willem Gerard Hofker, Le Mayeur de Merpres, Lee Man Fong, Theo Meier, Sudjojono, Srihadi, Arie Smit, and more, are names that appear in almost every auction of standing, the Borobudur Singapore auction has made great strides to present fine works that have rarely been exposed.

Lee Man Fong, for instance, is now represented by paintings made between the early 1940s and 1960s -- among others, a still life of roses (made in 1965), White Rooster (1943), Reclining Nude (1951), Two Doves (1944), and Balinese Life (1970s), which many collectors have long yearned for.

Similarly, the Affandis in this auction refer not only to Indonesian scenes like Balinese Prince in Art Gallery (1973), Cockfight (1968) and Barong (1985) but also Landscape in Europe (1962), and The Colosseum in Rome (1972).

Willem Gerard Hofker, whom many may associate with romantic nude or half-nude images on paper or canvas, is here represented by a still life, Various Flowers in a Vase (1952), reportedly made for a wedding present to his niece in the past.

Quite outstanding, furthermore, are Hendra Gunawan's The Girls are going home from the Market (1967), the lyrical realist/impressionist watercolor by the 1919-born Chinese artist Wu Guan Zhong titled Bumper Harvest, and the artist's ink and color painting titled Sunrise at Mount Huang, as well as the Vietnamese master le Pho's Motherhood (1938), and Two Javanese Ladies (1923) by Isaac Israels.

Another surprise is the inclusion of an unusual painting by Antonio Blanco, Kebyar Dancer.

Although the Borobudur auction is being launched amid a series of art events in Singapore, including auctions by Larasati, Sotheby's, an art exhibition of Indonesian masters at Art Retreat private museum, and Christie's Hongkong auction preview, some collectors are convinced that the prime collection of only 32 paintings is bound to attract the attention of Singapore art cognoscenti.

in box: Important Southeast Asian Paintings To be auctioned by Borobudur Auctionhouse Shangri-La Hotel, Tower Ballroom A, Orange Grove Road, Singapore Saturday, 8 October 11 a.m.

Public Viewing, Thursday Oct 6. 11 a.m. through 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, 11 a.m. through 8 p.m. Gardenia Room, Mezzanine Floor, Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore