Modern master drawings Indonesian style: Sudjana

Modern master drawings Indonesian style: Sudjana

By Astri Wright

JAKARTA (JP): Residents and visitors to Jakarta can now
see an exhibition of the late Sudjana Kerton's art which is quite
different from earlier exhibits in Jakarta.

Exhibited through the end of this week at the Mexican Embassy
residence is a selection from last year's major exhibition in
Yogyakarta that includes drawings, watercolors, and graphic
prints by the modern nationalist Indonesian painter.

In a climate where artists here are striving to figure out who
they are, their identity as Indonesians in a global market
(including the international art market and exhibition circuits),
and how to make it economically at home during the ongoing
krismon, (economic crisis) this exhibition offers a different
artistic profile.

In a current art culture where painting as a medium has become
heavily commercialized, and "serious contemporary artists" work
in multi-media, installation and performance media, visitors to
this exhibition can see "serious", non-commercially produced
works on paper and canvas.

At a time when many Indonesian artists are desperately trying
to learn how to work within the commercial gallery system in
Indonesia's largest cities, here are works that were created
without thought of how they would be sold, but created with
other, larger goals in mind. This historical perspective is once
again an issue of relevance to Indonesians and Indonesian art
today.

This exhibition features several different aspects of the
complex personality and biography of this important painter of
the nationalist and revolutionary era. Like Affandi, Sudjojono
and Hendra, Sudjana Kerton began his career in the throes of the
birth of the nation, at the end of the colonial era and during
the Japanese occupation.

While living in Bandung, interacting daily with Dutch
residents, Sudjana came to realize that the colonial era had to
come to an end. While he counted many Dutch people among his
friends, and painted portraits of many of them, he knew that
history now demanded that the Dutch as a group would have to give
up their power in Indonesia.

To help the colonized peoples of the archipelago achieve this
end, Sudjana joined his talents with those of other artists
working with the new national government of Sukarno and Hatta and
he became an artist journalist, documenting in his drawings
Indonesian independence efforts on the battle fields, at the
negotiation table, and in secret underground government meetings.

Moving from Jakarta to Yogyakarta with the underground after
the proclamation of Independence in August 1945, Sudjana spent
the years leading up to 1950 there, years which were so formative
both for the Indonesian nation as well as to modern Indonesian
art history.

Sudjana's work exhibited here this week spans many rich
aspects, thematically, stylistically and media wise. Here are
drawings, graphic works, watercolors, and oil paintings.

Furthermore, adding to this richness, the exhibition's 45
works were made in many different geographical locations. Themes
range from Indonesian drawings from the 1940s, studies of nudes
and of people in public places, in Holland, France and the U.S.
in the 1950s, and several oil paintings and sketches made during
a visit to Mexico in the early 1960s.

These are the works that prompted the Mexican Embassy to open
their charming exhibition space to this revered Indonesian
nationalist artist.

The exhibit presents works of the greatest historical value to
the Indonesian nation. Here are rapidly, confidently executed pen
and ink sketches. Here we encounter both people on the street,
going about their lives, as well as the historical figures--
Indonesian political leaders, Dutch military and colonial
representatives -- who made the treaties and agreements that
shaped the nation.

Particularly noteworthy for their expressive line, superb
composition, and handling of ink lines and blots, are a sketch of
a seated soldier (a psychological portrait of weariness, perhaps
mixed with reflection or memory), a river view of people bathing,
the scene of a historic moment in the negotiations between
Indonesian and Dutch, and a donkey before a cart.

Another body of work was made in the USA, during Sudjana's
years studying at the Art Students' League (watercolors, graphic
works, two oil paintings--cubist nude and a cat reaching for a
fish). The sketch for his large mural, Tanah Airku - My Country -
commissioned by the Indonesian Embassy in Holland, is a
particularly richly orchestrated watercolor, no less interesting
than the large original, despite its small size.

The location of the exhibition is itself interesting. It
reminds us that the Indonesian artists of the 1940s and 1950s
were internationally-minded people. Many of them - including
Affandi and Hendra Gunawan - hoped to visit Mexico because of
their great respect for Mexican artists, particularly the
muralists, and their role during the Mexican revolution.

While Hendra never got the chance, Sudjana and Affandi did
visit and paint in Mexico. Two wonderful works made in Mexico can
be seen at this exhibition -- one drawing -- a sketch of a
village market scene and an oil painting of a Mexican family.
Reproductions of two other Mexican paintings are exhibited, as
well.

In this exhibition, we encounter an earlier generation of
Indonesian artists, who, like many of the artists today, struggle
for the creation of a better nation for themselves and their
compatriots, though the shape and methods of the enemy back then
was different.

In this exhibition, we encounter an artist of a generation
that was globally aware, politically active, and intensely
involved with aesthetic and formal questions. We also have a
chance to view art works of a more spontaneous and personal
nature than oil paintings, which in most cases take so much
longer to plan and execute than drawings.

Here are examples of a class of art works that have not yet
achieved recognition in Indonesia: the nation's Modern Masters'
Drawings.

The exhibition is showing at the Mexican Embassy Residence,
Jl. Panglima Polim III, No 1-3. Hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. every
day, through Saturday June 10th.