Location is everything when it comes to batik design

JAKARTA (JP): Batik, a famous Indonesian fabric, comes in a large variety of designs. Each batik design reflects the social conditions of the place where it is made. Batik made by coastal peoples is different from that produced by courtiers in Central Java. Batik represents the artistic expression of the maker and translates the social activities surrounding them.

No one knows when batik art came to Indonesia, but John Gillow in his book Traditional Indonesian Textiles liberally estimates that it arrived between the 10th and 16th centuries.

Batik is also practiced in India, South East China, Turkestan and West Africa, but it was in Indonesia that the craft reached its maturity.

The first actual mention of the word "batik" is found in a Dutch bill of lading pertaining to shipment of cloth from Batavia (Old Jakarta) to Sumatra in 1680. It was Sir Stamford Raffles, the British governor during the brief British rule in Indonesia, who wrote the first detailed account of batik process in the early l9th century.

Art

The art of batiking is essentially the same as drawing or painting on a piece of white cloth. The main tool, the canting, is used instead of a pencil or brush, and liquid wax substitutes paint. The canting consists of a small brass container to hold the liquid wax, a small spout or nozzle, and a wooden or bamboo handle. There are various sizes of nozzles, depending on the size of dot or the fineness of the lines to be drawn.

The wax is removed after the cloth is dyed. The parts that are covered by the wax remains white or whatever color that area was previously dyed. Because the wax functions as a resisting medium, this process is called the resist-dye process.

The resist-dye technique has been known in many countries for centuries. Many kinds of materials have been used as resist media, including a porridge of wheat or sticky rice, or paraffin.

In Indonesia, the resist-dye technique was improved with the invention and use of the canting tool, and the use of wax as resist material in the l800s. This process of repeatedly waxing and dyeing is called the batik process and produces fine quality batik. This same process is still used today and is indigenous to Indonesia.

Designs

Indonesian batik designs are mostly derived from nature and myths from the folklore of the waves of foreign cultures that have engulfed the archipelago.

The many batik designs all fall within geometric, non- geometric (figurative) and background designs known as isen. The most commonly used geometric designs are called ceplokan. These designs are forms of flora, fauna and bird life standardized into geometric shapes. Other popular geometric patterns are the garis miring (diagonal lines) of which the parang rusak (broken knife) and the udan liris (light rain) are the most famous. The kawung design groups ovals arranged in fours are also classed as geometric, as are the tambal miring (patchwork) and the tumpal (spear) designs. Patchwork batik is considered magical.

The semen (non-geometric) designs are patterns of swirling foliage combined with stylized depictions of birds, animals and mythological figures derived from Javanese, Indian, Chinese, Arabic and European sources.

The isen (background) designs are simple, repetitive motifs which, in less expensive batik, can cover the whole surface of a cloth. The Chinese-derived banji swastika is an important isen motif. The oldest patterns are of Javanese origin, notably the gringsing (fish scale clusters in dotted semicircles) which are traditionally worn to ward off illnesses.

Batik design underwent numerous changes and innovations as the process spread throughout Java, Madura and Bali.

The batik of Central Java is mainly produced around the courts of Yogyakarta and Surakarta, and is characterized by the use of soga brown and indigo dyes. Batik if one of the five fine and complicated arts of Javanese civilization. Women of the kraton (courts) spent their leisure time creating patterns mainly based on flowers and foliage. The patterns reflect the splendid and politically important roles of the Central Javanese courts throughout Dutch colonial rule.

There are specific designs developed by areas outside Central Java, such as the Cirebon style, the north Java coastal styles in Indramayu and Pekalongan, as well as the southwest Java style in Banyumas, Tasikmalaya and Garut.

East Java, including Madura, and even Sumatra also developed their own batik fashion and technique. Unlike Central Java, which kept to the same patterns, batik designs from Pekalongan, Cirebon, Tasikmalaya were much more experimental and innovative. Batikmakers in these areas were not restricted to certain rules. They experimented with various designs as well as local and imported textiles. Batik produced in these areas is more colorful and has bolder designs. Light colors like beige, light blue, pink, red, light green were used in various batik products including kain panjang and selendang.

The dynamic blend of cultural influences that centered around the northern ports of Java produced the sometimes gaudy splendors of north coast batik between l840 and l940. North coast entrepreneurs were innovative, deriving designs from such diverse sources such as Chinese mythology, Arabic calligraphy and even European horticultural books. Many batik entrepreneurs from the north coast area around Pekalongan were the first to experiment with the new aniline dyes coming from Germany at the end of the l9th century.

Floods of machine-printed copies of indigenous batik patterns started arriving in Java from Europe in the l830s. Many Chinese and Arabic businesspeople owned batik workshops which were set up to produce batik that was printed with a cap (stamp).

An important development of batik design was also made by Dutch batik entrepreneurs. In l890, a number of Dutch women, including Mrs. J. Jans and Mrs. Eliza Van Zuylen, established a workshop in Pekalongan and produced batik in a European style. They derived ideas from Dutch horticultural books, magazines and other drawing books. The European-style batik became famous for its distinguished color combinations, mostly soft pastel colors, and different layout.

Batik designs continue to develop. Batik centers are now expanding to areas like Irian Jaya, East Nusa Tenggara, Kalimantan and Sulawesi because of the government intensive transmigration program. Batik designs from these new areas combine traditional Javanese patterns and local art forms.

Many local designers and batik producers experiment with contemporary designs and methods. (raw)