Noe sale commemorates an Indonesian collector

Noe sale commemorates an Indonesian collector

By Amir Sidharta

JAKARTA (JP): Last year, admirers and collectors of art in Indonesia grieved the loss of Adrian Noe, a respected collector of Asiatic art. This week, his entire collection will be auctioned by Christie's at the Erasmus Huis, Jakarta.

Despite the fact that the Noe collection is indeed an interesting one, to say the least, the auction will certainly be a landmark event, not because of the quality of the items for sale per se, but rather because it is the first public auction by a private firm to be conducted in Indonesia.

The only conceivable alternative to this auction would have been to open the property as a museum, like the Adam Malik Museum.

"The only problem is that Noe was not well-known," commented Sudarmadji Damais, director of the Jakarta History Museum.

Until this auction was announced, Noe was only known in very limited circles. So, who was Adrian Noe?

Adrian Noe was born on Sept. 9, 1919 in Amsterdam and moved at an early age to the industrial town of Hengelo. According to J.H.J Leeuwrik in the auction catalog, Noe started collecting when he was a teenager.

"He would bicycle in the surroundings to buy antique utensils from local farmers with his pocket money. It was in this manner that his first collection was formed," wrote Leeuwrik further.

Noe joined the N.V. Nationale Handels Bank in Amsterdam as a clerk after completing his education. By the end of two years he was head of the company's Shanghai office. Transferred to Singapore, he was assigned to set up the company's branch offices all around the region. However, World War I broke out and Noe was captured by Japanese soldiers during the seizure of Singapore.

After the war, Noe was sent to open the company's branch office in Bandung in 1948. Later, from 1954 to 1959, he was appointed submanager of the bank's Jakarta office. Following the shift in Indonesia's economic policy at the end of the 1950s, foreign banks were forced to close, and Noe was transferred to Japan and later to Thailand.

In 1964, after the Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A., acquired the Nationale Handels Bank, Noe switched to Chase. The latter obtained a permit to set up the first foreign bank allowed to reopen in Indonesia, and it was apparent that Noe was the perfect candidate for the firm's leadership.

As Chase prospered, Noe was able to gather a substantial collection for himself. Leeuwrik noted, "Noe possessed the fortunate and rare combination of qualities which enabled him to put together a collection of such standard. The sound business- like approach of the banker went hand-in-hand with the more irrational obsession of the collector.... His collection was built up of various types of artifacts that were displayed with great taste."

Damais sees Adrian Noe's collection as typical of a bachelor- gentleman who spent a long period in Southeast Asia and, in particular, Indonesia.

"It is an eclectic collection," he summarizes, but finds it rather amusing that the collection was used to create rooms according to different aesthetic themes. For example, the dining room of the Noe house was embellished with Blue and Whites, while celadons decorated the library. A sitting room at the back of the house was filled with Blanc-de-Chines. Damais compares him to Jim Thompson, whom Noe apparently was acquainted with when he was stationed in Thailand.

However, it seems clear that Noe never really saw himself as a hard-core collector. He did not build up his collection exclusively for the sake of collecting, but he used it to decorate his home. Leeuwrik mentioned that Noe "liked to call himself a 'decorator' which gave him the liberty of placing objects among his collection that, strictly speaking, did not belong there".

It is no surprise then, that another collector who viewed the collection at the Noe estate last Saturday likened the collection to a garage sale, and questioned Christie's interest in this sale.

"The auction can perhaps be compared with a garage sale, but a garage sale with a Walter Spies valued at half a million dollars!" exclaimed Damais, when he heard about the collector's comment. In a sale of an entire estate, especially of an eclectic collection, a wide range of objects is to be expected. The paintings for sale range from the early Walter Spies Desa on the Dieng Plateau to reproductions artwork.

A number of museum-quality furniture pieces stand out in contrast to the wicker furniture commonly found in the homes of expatriates in Jakarta. There must be a few extraordinary collectibles among the numerous ceramics, kris and kris hilts, statues, and silverware offered at the auction.

"Isn't it in garage sales that lucky collectors have been able to find the greatest buys?" commented another collector.

No matter which category people place Noe's collection, there is no doubt that Noe was an avid collector. He was known to have traded his beachfront house in Sanur, Bali, for a Rp 250,000 (US$108.36) ceramic artifact he fell in love with during a visit to Hong Kong.

His declining ability to judge the authenticity and quality of art pieces offered to him for sale cost him dearly. After discovering that the artifact that he had fell in love with was in fact a fake, he felt betrayed. Heartbroken, he suffered a stroke, complicated by high blood pressure and diabetes. On April 18, 1995, Adrian Noe passed away at the age of 75.

The property and estate of Adrian Noe will be auctioned today commencing at 6 p.m., and tomorrow at 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. at the Erasmus Huis. The proceeds of the auction will go to the Adrian Noe foundation, a foundation whose object is to support talented and underprivileged youngsters in Indonesia. His love for Indonesia was comparable to his love for his collection, and Noe was granted Indonesian citizenship in 1987. This landmark auction will certainly commemorate the life of this Indonesian collector.