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.