Indonesian art, hot items at auctions

Indonesian art, hot items at auctions

By Boudewijn Brands

AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands (JP): A concentration of offers
attract more buyers. That is a marketing strategy. So usually,
auction houses, targeting wealthy buyers in Singapore, plan their
sales at the same time.

The art market in this region seems to be on the move, and
again, Glerum seems to take the initiative. This is so because:
firstly, Indonesia is the largest country in the area and there
is a large market for Indonesia related art; secondly, the
Netherlands is the largest European source and a market for
Indonesian Mooi-Indie art, while at the same time having a lively
contemporary art scene; thirdly, Singapore has an art
appreciating population and is the most efficient and cost
effective place to do business; forthly, income distribution in
developing countries is very unequal, thus making them good
markets for expensive articles; and lastly, a collector usually
starts buying small and cheap items before going on to more
expensive ones.

So when Jan-Pieter Glerum started to create a market for
Indonesia-related art, he started in the Netherlands and was also
the first to move to Singapore, targeting rich buyers in the
area, especially Indonesians. In 1996, contemporary Indonesian
art was included for the first time. Indonesia, corrupt and
bureaucratic, was not an ideal place for quality auctions.
Sotheby's and Christie's are now also regularly auctioning in
Singapore but that time Glerum has made an association with a
local organization in Jakarta.

So what has been on offer recently? On May 21, 2000, Glerum
held a unique auction in Amsterdam. Glerum was allowed to sell
works from Maria Hofker-Rueter's (she passed away last December)
collection that she did not bestow to the Teyler Museum in
Haarlem as he had a close personal relationship with her.

This auction obviously had a large Indonesian content as a lot
of the work, especially Willem Hofker's, was done in Indonesia
(see also the article on Maria Hofker in The Jakarta Post in
1998).

On Sept. 6, 2000, Glerum had another two-dimensional art
auction. There were 673 lots. 92 out of the 121 in the Indonesian
section, or about 80 percent, were sold. It is at auctions like
these that starters can buy good art at reasonable prices: prints
of established Cobra artists, such as Eugene Brands or Corneille,
go for prices half of what is asked for in galleries.

There are even items sold for Dfl 10 (about Rp 33,000). In
this auction, the most expensive work was Indonesia-related: a
painting by Frida Holleman that went for Dfl 5,200 (excluding
auction costs), about four times its estimated value (Duta Fine
Arts Foundation has a booklet about this artist).

Oct. 1, 2000, both Christie's and Sotheby's had auctions in
Singapore. Christie's in the morning at 10.30 and Sotheby's in
the afternoon. The target here was obviously the collector with a
purse surpassing the one owned by working people.

Christie's divided their lots into five chapters. The first 36
consisting of Indo-European pictures and the last 45 lots on
Indonesian picture. The other 63 works originated from Singapore,
Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines. The catalogue is, as
usual, beautiful and had excellent write-ups on the background of
some of the paintings such as Le Mayeur's on which Drs. Jop
Ubbens, who was recently promoted to general manager of
Christie's in Amsterdam, is a specialist. The highest price bided
for in this auction (including costs) was S$713,750, for a
painting of women working in the rice fields by Fabian de la Rosa
from the Philippines.

The six Le Mayeurs fetched a combined total of S$1,673,875.
Christie's is conservative toward contemporary art. It will only
sell works of artists who have an auction history or that who
have already established names. It is also interesting to note
that Christie's has started to auction, including contemporary
art, in Thailand.

Sotheby's has divided their 163 lots into six chapters, four
of them on Indonesia; 25 on Indo-European paintings, six on Bali,
56 on modern and contemporary works and 16 on new contemporary
paintings. Top prices bided for here were S$889,550 for a Walter
Spies and S$127,750 (including costs) for a Raden Saleh.

In the contemporary category, Sotheby's is a bit more
adventurous, offering works of relatively unknown Faizin (born
1973) and Bilaningsih (born 1960). Excellent prices were obtained
here for works by Heri Dono (S$12,000), Sigit Santoso (S$4,800)
and for a strong "ugly" (nondecorative) painting called Figures
(using integers) by active artist Entang Wiharso (born 1967).

A shady side of art came up in Sotheby's auction. Indonesian
art specialist Amir Sidarta pointed out that lot 53, a painting
by S. Sudjojono, was stolen. The next day, Sept. 22, an e-mail
was sent out on this matter saying that of the 53 paintings of
this artist seen in 17 catalogues since 1996, 17 were fakes and
six stolen.

The fakes are sometimes so well-made that prospective buyers
are cautioned against unqualified statements on the authorship or
date of execution of the paintings.

This warning notice was seen at the auction that was taken
place on Oct. 22, 2000 in Jakarta. This was the 2nd Pictures of
Indonesia auction and was completely devoted to Indonesian art.

The catalogue does not give any names of associated experts in
Larasati (the organizer) and the reason may exactly be the above.
However, the auction was done in association with Glerum
Southeast Asia and offers 227 works. 37 or about 16 percent of
these are Hofkers of which the authenticity is at least
guaranteed. They are at all price levels. The showstopper of this
auction would no doubt be Hofker's Portrait of the Seated Ni
Noneh (lot 64). There would also be a beautiful and rare Affandi,
actually featuring snow (lot 179).

Anyone seriously interested in Indonesian art should get this
catalogue and read the introduction. Claire Holt's book on "Art
in Indonesia" is currently available in Indonesian, but without
color illustrations. This catalogue gives a good illustration of
Indonesia's art history.

History is also being made here; a young artist's work
included in this auction is S. Teddy D.'s Bunga Jeruk, named
after his artist friend. Will such a work be picked up by an
Indonesian or an expatriate?

Teddy's works are currently being exhibited in a Jakarta
gallery and some of his works can even be rented in the
Netherlands. Such information cannot be found in the short
biographies of each artist represented, but with 13 pages of such
biographies, the catalogue is up to date on contemporary art.

*The writer is an art collector.