Neka Museum: Sixteen-year adventure to maturity

By Jusuf Wanandi

JAKARTA (JP): Sutedja Neka, a former schoolteacher and a son of a well-known Balinese wood sculptor, had a dream. In the early 1970s, he started selecting the best works of several Balinese master painters. With 70 paintings he managed to acquire, he took the first step toward the fulfillment of his dream, the construction of a museum of Balinese paintings in Ubud.

Completed in 1982, the museum was opened by Daoed Joesoef, chairman of the board of directors of the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) who was then education and culture minister and an ever-ardent supporter of Neka's efforts. It marked the beginning of what is widely known, nationally and internationally, as the Neka Museum, which celebrated its 16th anniversary in mid-August.

Since its establishment, the museum has become an excellent center featuring among the best collections of Indonesian paintings, particularly works on Bali by Balinese, as well as works by other Indonesian and foreign artists. Its collection has been augmented from time to time by acquisitions, and its side activities include organizing exhibitions, promoting new painters and publishing books on Balinese arts.

Overseas exhibitions have been organized in the U.S., Japan, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Europe. For all his good work and incessant efforts, Neka has received high recognition from the provincial government of Bali, and the ministries of education and culture and tourism.

The museum has become a standard-bearer, not only for Balinese but also other Indonesian paintings, and the foreign painters who work with Bali as their subject or the place of their inspiration.

Now with almost 300 paintings on exhibit and with an average of 200 tourist visitors daily, the Neka Museum is a must stop for travelers to Ubud who are interested in learning more about its art. It is located in Campuhan, just off Ubud's main street, and has a beautiful view and surroundings. It is also a fine spot to unwind over coffee after a tour of the museum, which consists of several buildings set in magnificent gardens.

The first building exhibits classical and traditional Balinese paintings.

Started as decorations of palaces and temples, the early Balinese paintings depict episodes of the Ramayana and Mahabaratha, two famed Hindu epics. They are mainly two dimensional and on natural materials like chalk, charcoal, bark or leaves from trees. Most of the artists are unknown.

During the 1930s and 1940s, two eminent Western painters, German native Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet from Holland, influenced traditional Balinese painting. Spies brought perspectives and dimensions to what became known as the Ubud School of Painters, while Bonnet gave them anatomy. They also introduced new materials to the Balinese painters.

The school is still thriving in Ubud, represented by Lesug, Ida Bagus Rai and Bedil. An offshoot of the Ubud School is the Batuan School, now represented by Wayan Bendi. It is a semiminiature style depicting mythical stories or scenes of ordinary Balinese life.

A special painter from that period, who had developed his own identity and style, is Lempad, who has earned a special room in the middle building of the museum complex. His strong strokes sketch daily life in Bali, but some are also derived from scenes in the Ramayana and Mahabaratha.

The third building houses paintings of the Indonesian artists who were influenced by Bali or resided on the island. Worth mentioning are the beautiful collection of Dullah and Abdul Aziz. Three paintings of Anton Kustia Widjaja, who unfortunately passed away about five years ago at the relatively young age of 49, also need to be recognized because of their rarity, and the museum's pieces are outstanding. Jeihan, Supono, Rudyat, Rudolf Usman and a few others are also represented.

The next building, two stories high, has a good collection of Affandi, Srihadi, Widayat, Bagong Kussudiardjo, Agus Djaya and Abas Alibasyah. The real treasure lies on the second floor, a trove of the best collection of foreign painters in Bali and the country. Works of Bonnet, Hofker, Blanco, Donald Friend, Theo Meier and Paul Nagano are displayed. Artists from the region like Chang Fee Ming (Malaysia), Teng Ree Chiong (Singapore), Navarro and San Miguel (Philippines) are also well represented.

The fifth building is really special because it is dedicated to Arie Smit. Arie Smit is not only a great artist whose paintings show strong colors and impressionistic or fauvistic influences, but he is also an especially generous artist who initiated the establishment of the Young Artist School of Penestanan in the early 1960s.

He is also a great friend and mentor of Sutedja Neka. The latter, to show his appreciation, has dedicated a special new building to Smit. His works on the upper floor give visitors a clear view of his versatility, style and strength in using colors and his impressions about the beauty of Bali's panoramas, temples, flora and people.

The lower level is devoted to the young artists school and the modern, academy-based artists of Bali. Figures such as Cakra, Nugrah KK, Soki, Tagen and Sinteg are among those represented. Wardhana, Nyoman Gunarsa, Nyoman Erawan and especially Made Sumadiyasa are picks from the academy.

Made Sumadiyasa, a 27-year-old painter who graduated from the Yogyakarta Academy of Arts last year, has his works in the exhibition which will last until the end of the year at the new two-room exhibition hall. This is the latest addition to the museum, which will be suitable for contemporary and seasonal exhibitions.

Neka should be acknowledges as a pioneer in founding and managing a privately funded art museum, with his example followed by such other art gallery owners as Rudana, Agung Rai and Nyoman Gunarsa.

They have benefited from the very same advice and experiences which has made Neka Museum a primus inter pares among all the art museums in the country.

The writer, an art lover, is currently chairman of the supervisory board of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta.