Location is everything when it comes to batik design

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)