Exhibition shows lighter side of legendary painter Sudjojono

Exhibition shows lighter side of legendary painter Sudjojono

By Chandra Johan

JAKARTA (JP): The history of modern Indonesian painting has
always placed the name Sindudarsono Sudjojono in its forefront.

Constantly portrayed in the context of significant milestones
such as his revolt against the tradition of the Mooi Indie
(Beautiful Indies) esthetics and the bourgeois social system at
that time, Sudjojono's name is a legend to many.

This has unwittingly led many people to forget Sudjojono's
humanity. The trivial and simple things in his life have been
less featured when he is remembered.

These lesser known qualities of Sudjojono (1913 - 1986) were
revealed in an exhibit of 40 of his works at the Pelita Harapan
University building in Lippo Karawaci, Tangerang, from March 25
to April 7.

The exhibit was put on in cooperation with the S. Sudjojono
Museum, where the late painter's wife, Rose Pandanwangi, is
curator.

The curator of the Pelita Harapan University Museum, Amir
Sidharta, explains that the exhibit aimed "to present this
painter in a daily context as a common person ... he had a
family, a religion and a social environment."

In the exhibition named Sudjojono, the Optimist, Sidharta and
Pandanwangi divided Sudjojono's works into three categories:
those with a social-political theme, those conveying self-
expression and the rest expressing a family and religious theme.

A simple and humane Sudjojono was reflected through such works
like bouquets, Moored boats in Tanjung Priok and Kebun di Pacet
(A garden in Pacet, West Java), a far cry from his paintings
associated with his revolutionary image.

The categorization in themes were not a strict division in the
display for landscape themes and still life works were also
shown.

Sudjojono used to say painters who only worked on beautiful
scenes -- those grouped in the Mooi Indies school -- were
distanced from other features that they should have noted in
their environment.

A painter, in his view, must paint anything around him. "A
painter doesn't only paint shacks and mountains, but also sugar
factories, thin farmers, cars of the rich and a young man's
trousers. This is our condition, this is our reality."

In Kepala Gombal (Head of old pieces of cloth), Sudjojono
lashes out angrily, it seems, at the bureaucracy hampering the
accessibility of electricity by controlling the state-owned
electricity company, PLN.

A fat figure is depicted with a head made of old cloths while
the real head is in the pocket of his coat. One of his hands
holds a bulb, and electric cable poles stand to his left and
right.

Sudjojono's religious themes include the powerful Beri Makan
Sehari-hari (Give us our daily food). This painting shows
Sudjojono's family praying before meals, although his children
seem to have their own thoughts.

Family themes appear in Anak Gadisku (My Daughter), l976, and
Mama Mengasoh (Mama resting), l959.

Being a model for a father painter does not always look fun:
Anak Gadisku depicts sullen faces and their father does not
attempt to make them sweet.

Among Sudjojono's self-portraits, Self-portrait was his last.
A pastel, this painting represents Sudjojono with his pipe. What
is interesting is the depiction of a bouquet of flowers around
the portrait, as if the painter was preparing for his death.

With another self-portrait, Optimist, the painter made the
following note, a practice he often did for his works: "Because I
know that in this world there is no heaven, there is only hell, I
try to transform this hell into heaven. Because I am a painter, I
always make something that makes me happy and glad and always
chant in my heart..."

Notes were important to the painter to acknowledge his
feelings; to him a painting remained a vision of the soul.

Unfortunately, a catalog to the exhibit was not available
through which the wider public could be exposed to a large part
of Sudjojono's last works.