Go Tik Swan, batik guru from Solo

Go Tik Swan, batik guru from Solo

Bambang M, Contributor, Surakarta

In the Spirit of Indonesia, a book published by the Indonesian
Batik Foundation, Go Tik Swan is referred to as "the most
respected batik artist from Java".

"He is the guru for batik experts all over the world and he is
also the teacher of the writers of this book," Joop Ave, the
former minister of tourism, post and telecommunications, wrote in
the book's overleaf.

The guru of batik experts from all over the world? That
statement may sound exaggerated, but the 71-year-old guru, whose
full name is Kanjeng Raden Temenggung Hardjonagoro Go Tik Swan,
deserves the commendation.

Go Tik Swan said a person could never be a really good batik
artist unless he or she was an expert in Javanese culture.

"People who can dance traditional Javanese dances are
generally good learners of the art of batik," said the Chinese-
Indonesian, who is well-versed in Javanese culture and considers
batik his mainstay.

In his backyard in Kratonan, Surakarta is a bamboo building
that he uses as his batik workshop. There, a number of old women
are busy at work.

His creations have found their way into the collections of
various museums in Australia and Europe. Among his masterpieces
is one called the Batik Parang Mega Kusuma, which he dedicated to
Megawati Soekarnoputri when she was vice president.

Go Tik Swan is well-known as a seasoned batik designer. His
style is in fact a mixture of the colorful motifs from the north
part of Central Java and the sogan motifs of Central Java's south
area.

Sogan is a batik coloring technique in which only the colors
of the wax are used and nothing else.

Etty Soeliantoro Soelaiman, the chief of the local batikmakers
association, Sekar Jagad, said that Go Tik Swan was one of
Indonesia's most respected creators of motifs.

Go Tik Swan attributed his role in batik to Megawati's father,
first president Sukarno, who wanted him to help preserve the
various ethnic batik motifs from the different parts of Java.

The artist met Sukarno at the time he was studying Javanese
literature at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta. In 1954
Sukarno attended the university's anniversary party and Go Tik
Swan performed a Javanese dance called the Gambir Anom, which
made a deep impression on the president.

"When my name was mentioned, Bung Karno (as Sukarno is
affectionately called) was very impressed because the dancer was
Chinese," he recalled.

Sukarno met him backstage and there their friendship began.
The president asked him to help organize the monthly Javanese
shadow puppet play (wayang) once a month at the State Palace.

Later, Sukarno learned that Go Tik Swan came from a rich batik
family in Surakarta.

One day, Sukarno asked Go Tik Swan to make him a batik which
was "typically Indonesian", and that he could proudly show off to
his foreign guests.

Go Tik Swan had no reason to refuse the request of the
statesman he admired the most.

"It was like a sacred mandate that I had to do," said the
artist, who was born in Surakarta on May 11, 1931.

Although he was well-educated, Go Tik Swan did not go the
technical route to fulfill the president's assignment by doing
library research on Indonesian batik. He went instead to northern
Java's batik centers, such as Tuban, Demak, Cirebon and Kudus.

At every town he visited, Go Tik Swan not only observed the
arts, but also looked for spiritual guidance by meditating in
sacred places, such as the Great Mosque of Demak, the tomb of
Sunan Bonang in Tuban and the tomb of Sunan Gunung Jati in
Cirebon.

His spiritual journey for typical Indonesian batik led him
nowhere.

Then in 1955, he met with Tjan Tjoe Sien, an expert in
Javanese culture, who invited him to Bali. There they stayed at
the home of Walter Spies, a Dutch painter in Campuran village,
Ubud.

Every night, Go Tik Swan meditated in a cave near the Dutch
artist's residence.

"One night while they were sitting on the verandah, I saw the
full moon fall down on me and explode. Strangely, I was the only
one who experienced it," he said.

So he went home the next morning, feeling confident that the
concept for the typical Indonesian batik that president Sukarno
ordered had formed in his mind.

"In 1970, my account was written down by Veldhuizen, a Dutch
batik expert in his book Blomen van Het Heelal," said Go Tik
Swan.

Go Tik Swan maintains his relationship with the Sukarno
family. When he celebrated his 70th birthday, Hartini, one of the
wives of Sukarno, gave him a photograph of her and Sukarno, and
Megawati gave him a crystal glass.

For his dedication to batik, he received the Budaya Bhakti
Upradana award in 1993 from the Central Java provincial
government. The Surakata palace bestowed on him the royal
honorific title of Kanjeng Raden Temenggung (KRT) Hardjonagoro.

Batik is not his only area of expertise. He is also well-
versed in Javanese culture, especially the history of the kris,
architecture and archaeology.

In his early years, he learned batik from the artists working
for his parents' batik company. From them, he also learned the
Javanese dances.

In recognition of his contributions to Javanese culture and
batik, he was named a member of the Surakarta Institute of Arts'
(STSI) board of experts.

In this way, he has become an important source of information
for both local and foreign experts on batik and Javanese culture
in general.

As an archeological enthusiast, he fashioned his house after a
museum, with antiques placed in all the rooms. In 1985, he
donated 45 ancient statues from his collection to the government,
knowing that these artifacts should be under the government's
protection.