Hofker's Bali paintings make their way back home

Hofker's Bali paintings make their way back home

Pragmatic parents often advise their artistically-inclined
offspring to equip themselves with other skills since they cannot
live on art alone.

There is no money in art, they say.

That may be the truth, but certainly not the whole truth. Go
to a successful art auction and you will see the affluence that
art attracts.

A recent two-day auction by Australia's Deutscher Menzies in
Sydney sold 14 paintings for a total of A$6.5 million. Four of
those paintings have strong Indonesian connections.

Two paintings of Balinese women by Willem Gerard Hofker went
to a private Indonesian collector, for A$155,950 and A$108,000
respectively,

Chris Deutscher of Deutscher Menzies Auction House had indeed
predicted that they would sell for over A$100,000 when he saw
them among a collection of artworks then owned by a family in New
South Wales.

An urgent need for cash prompted the family to contact
Deutscher to assess their art collection, having very little idea
of their monetary worth. Upon discovering the two Hofker
paintings, Deutscher told them that they had highly valuable
treasures in their possession.

Hofker had in 1945 sold his works directly to then General Sir
Thomas Blamey, commander-in-chief of both the Australian Military
Forces and Allied Land Forces in the Southwest Pacific. And it
was the Blamey family who sold the two paintings.

How Hofker, eager to sell his works, came to sell them in
Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, is a story in itself.

Hofker was born on May 3, 1902, the son of a high-ranking
civil servant in The Hague. The family recognized their son's
artistic talent very early in life and sent him to art school in
The Hague, then to the Amsterdam Academy of Arts.

After his graduation in 1924, he quickly gained recognition as
an artist after winning second prize in the Prix de Rome.

It was in the country's artistic circles that he met Maria,
the daughter of another well-known artist, Willem Reuter, who
became his wife.

Hofker's reputation landed him an invitation from the Royal
Dutch Sealines Company (KPM) to paint a portrait of Queen
Wilhelmina, then to present it personally to their office in
Batavia. Despite not being particularly fond of traveling, Hofker
accepted and with Maria embarked on the long voyage to the Dutch
East Indies.

Hofker had read up about the colony and was then looking
forward to seeing the place. After the presentation Hofker and
Maria took a tour of Java, but they did not go far before Hofker
fell ill and was forced to return to Batavia.

After the recovery, Hofker, taken by the beauty of Javanese
women, wished to paint them. Unfortunately none would pose for
him. Having heard of Walter Spies, Rudolf Bonnet and other
European artists living in Bali, Hofker decided to visit the
island.

Bali was pivotal in his artistic life. He produced numerous
pastels of Balinese women, in vibrantly colored dancing costumes,
or in ordinary scenes, such as weaving and resting. He was
fascinated by their sensuous yet unselfconscious beauty.

Hofker and Maria's idyllic life in Bali came to an abrupt end
when World War II broke out. In December 1941, Hofker was
conscripted, together with his friend and fellow artist Bonnet,
for military service with the Royal Netherlands Indies Army,
known by its acronym KNIL.

A year later, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor,
Hofker, Maria and Bonnet were arrested and thrown into prison in
Denpasar, where Hofker managed to continue painting.

Fortunately for him the Japanese, keen to promote the
appreciation of Asian culture, organized Balinese art exhibitions
by commissioning some Balinese artists, and noticed Hofker's
artistic talent. They subsequently released him, together with
Maria and Bonnet.

It was but a brief relief because in December 1943 Hofker and
Maria were transported to detention camps in Sulawesi, where they
encountered endless hardships. Hofker nearly died of starvation,
and his paintings -- over one hundred of them -- which he had
given to Maria, were destroyed when a war base near the women's
camp was bombed.

They were eventually released; Hofker and Maria tried to
rebuild their lives in the newly independent Indonesia without
much success.

In the meantime the Dutch, still trying to regain power,
offered its citizens who were still in Indonesia the choice of
joining the military or returning to Holland. Hofker strongly
refused to fight against people he regarded as his friends, and
did not even wait for the repatriation which would take some
time.

It was then that he approached Sir Thomas Blamey's company in
Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, and offered his paintings for sale,
which Sir Thomas promptly bought.

Hofker and Maria then spent the rest of their lives back in
their homeland, with the artist continuing to produce images of
Bali from his memory.

We may never know how much Hofker received for his paintings
in 1945, but he would surely be pleased to know that they are now
among top-priced Indonesian artworks.

-- Dewi Anggraeni