Le Mayeur's painting to be sold in Sydney

Tim Goodman, Contributor, Sydney

Le Mayeur found two sources of inspiration as an artist: the Balinese landscape and Ni, a graceful dancer who became his wife

Adrien Jean Le Mayeur de Merpres, one of the most highly regarded painters of the Southeast Asia region of the 20th century, is sometimes referred to as 'Indonesia's Gauguin'. Although Le Mayeur initially followed in Gauguin's footsteps when he traveled to Tahiti in the 1920s, his own artistic style came to the fore after he settled in Bali in the early 1930s.

Le Mayeur was one of many artists, including the Philippine- born Spanish painter, Antonio Blanco (1927-1999), and the Australian artist, Donald Friend (1915-1989), to find inspiration in this idyllic Indonesian Island.

Bonhams & Goodman, based in Sydney, has established a strong record for selling paintings from this region. In 2004, Le Mayeur's 1940s oil painting, The Garden at Sanur, achieved a regional auction record at A$870,500, while Donald Friend's The Toy Canoe made a world auction record at A$59,625. Both went to Indonesian buyers. Another superb oil painting by Le Mayeur, Women Weaving, will be offered in the Sydney sale of Fine Australian and International Art on April 26.

Le Mayeur was born into an aristocratic Belgian family. His father, although a talented marine artist, was opposed to his son following in his footsteps.

However, Le Mayeur rejected his father's entreaties to pursue an academic career, leaving Belgium in his late teens to follow his twin passions of travel and art. He traveled extensively through Europe, America, Africa, India and Asia, before settling in Bali in 1932. Here Le Mayeur found two sources of inspiration that were integral to his development as an artist: the Balinese landscape and his muse and model, Ni Wayan Pollok Tjoeglik (1917- 1985), a graceful dancer who became his wife.

After their marriage, the couple settled into a beautiful house near the beach on the south coast of the island, an idyllic location that is depicted in The Garden at Sanur. Here, Ni, who is featured in many of his works, was the model for all seven figures in the painting, and her likeness can clearly be seen in the three foreground figures posing elegantly under a canopy of bougainvillea. In this work, Le Mayeur deftly evokes the gentle play of light and color through lush foliage and even provides a glimpse of the beach in the background.

Ni, and the house they built together, provided her artist husband with a source of endless inspiration. In a letter written in 1946, La Mayeur wrote that "...our little house makes up a worthy frame around her beauty". Although happily settled in Bali, he still mounted numerous exhibitions in Singapore, with Ni sometimes dancing at the openings.

As Le Mayeur's reputation grew, many famous people visited his Sanur retreat, including Eleanor Roosevelt, novelist Nevil Shute, and President Soekarno. Despite increasing demand for his work, Le Mayeur continued to sell his paintings from his home and often only to people he befriended.

Women Weaving was bought directly from Le Mayeur in the late 1940s by an American, who became friendly with the artist during his regular visits to Bali while fleeing a failed marriage. The picture is in remarkable condition, as it has been kept for 50 years in the US home of the original owner, where the climate is more sympathetic to artworks than the tropical weather.

Women Weaving is mounted in a beautifully carved Balinese frame, which is characteristic of Le Mayeur's work from this period. The setting is, once again, Le Mayeur's garden, and the weavers, doubtless inspired by the graceful figure of the artist's wife, are weaving colorful cloth on traditional looms under a canopy of arched boughs. Interestingly, in a photograph reproduced in Jop Ubbens and Cathinka Huizing's Adrien Jean Le Mayeur de Merpres: Painter-Traveler, the definitive book about the artist, Le Mayeur is pictured working on a charcoal sketch on canvas that bears an uncanny resemblance to the subject picture.

Whatever the case, Women Weaving aptly evokes the idyllic setting that provided Le Mayeur with a source of inspiration for almost 30 years.

Tim Goodman is Chief Executive Officer of Bonhams & Goodman, Sydney.