Neka Museum: Sixteen-year adventure to maturity

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.