Osmania: A great but little-known painter
Osmania: A great but little-known painter
By Susi Andrini
PADANG, West Sumatra (JP): If you happen to travel here, make sure to stop in at the home of painter Osmania in Kayu Tanam subdistrict.
Os, as he is better known, is noted for his solitary nature, which contributed to his mature personality as a painter.
Despite his 72 years, Os' enthusiasm for his art is undimmed.
"My paintings are a blend of man and technology," he said.
He places his paintings in the surrealist romantic modern classic category. His works are not simple strokes of the paintbrush, but the result of thought, observation and sensitivity, all coming together on canvas. They are strong and sharp, like those in Japanese kanji.
To Os, the imagination present in his paintings is a series of stories shaped in his mind. Each of the paintings reveals deep contemplation, readily apparent to the observer.
His personal life shows through in his depiction of the mother and child bond, a central theme of most of the paintings.
Os devoted his life to caring for Rakimah, his paralyzed mother. He made a wheelchair for her, fitted with an opening in the seat so she could easily relieve herself.
"She was my mother and I'm the eldest of five. All my siblings have gone to Java, so it was my job to look after my mother," he said.
Os was born on Jan. 19, 1927. He went to the Dutch elementary school for indigenous Indonesians, always receiving grades of eight or nine in drawing. As a fifth grader at the age of 12, he moved to the Indonesian Dutch School Kayu Tanam (INS), a school set up by Muhammad Syafei.
His father, then Kayu Tanam's customary chief, was opposed to the idea, warning him he would not have guidance in his life if he attended the school.
"It was true that INS Kayu Tanam taught its students such vocational skills as engraving, painting, arts and drama, making sculptures and so on more than anything else," Os said.
Upon completion of his elementary schooling, Os continued his studies at junior high school through the second year. Os had a favorite teacher, Wakidi, considered West Sumatra's first painter. Wakidi and Muhammad Syafei enjoyed Dutch educations and they were both senior teachers in West Sumatra.
Os often played truant because he was bored with Wakidi's landscapes. In class, he would keep moving. Os favored sketches of an artisan practicing his craft, making ceramics from clay or weaving a mat.
Remembering how naughty he once was, Os often jokes with his friends, saying: "If I die, I'll take to my coffin my drawings of landscapes." But Os has great respect for Wakidi's instruction about art and knowledge
"Wakidi's painting are refined and transmit their own light of reflection."
During the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945, life was difficult. As it was hard to obtain canvases, Os painted on the wheel of a horse-drawn buggy, turned it into a seal and sold it. He also grew vegetables and caught fish in the river for the family.
In 1945, Os' parents fell from a train. His mother sprained her left leg and dislodged her kneecap. A Japanese doctor was able to realign the leg. Unfortunately, his father was killed.
Os joined the military police in Sawah Lunto but kept up painting. He painted Sukarno and Hatta, the country's first president and vice president, the latter a West Sumatra native. In 1950, he left the military police and moved to Java.
He worked for an advertising company. Two years later, he relocated to Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, and joined Puspa Hati, then a famous drama group. He was assigned to sell tickets and make promotional materials.
Puspa Hati frequently toured the country, including stops in Java and Bali. When it toured Bali, Os decided to leave the group. He stayed in Klungkung, Denpasar and Karang Asem on the island for two years and made watercolor paintings. In this period he sold more than a hundred of his works.
Feeling the itch to move on, he went to Jakarta and joined Perfini, an Indonesian filmmaking company led by Usmar Ismail. He worked drawing scenery on black-and-white curtain as set decorations. His most impressive experience when came in 1960 when then Armed Forces Commander Andi Matalata and Army Chief of Staff Andi Yusuf assigned PT Letfira Film to make a film on a freedom fighter in Makassar. He met a local woman, married her and brought to Jakarta. Although the marriage lasted only three year, the couple had one daughter, Fatrah Hanom.
Os elected not to marry again and raise his daughter by himself. He left Perfini and earned his living making advertising illustrations and scenery pictures.
He went door to door selling pictures. He visited the Dutch, Swiss, British and Italian embassies, to mention only a few. He recounted how he pretended to be a mute as he hawked his works. An Italian woman once took pity on him and purchased 40 paintings. People still took kindly to him after they found out about his act.
As life became harder in Jakarta and his mother aged, Os decided to return to West Sumatra in 1972. He began painting again. Many of his 30cm x 40 cm paintings, all with social and humanist themes, were sold.
Os rented a house and lived there with his mother and his only daughter. He set up his workshop in front of Kayu Tanam train station. He enjoyed the support from Arbi Samah, head of arts and culture division of the local administration in Padang, for his workshop, which was inaugurated by the local office of the education and culture ministry in 1988.
With its strategic location, Os' house attracts many domestic and foreign tourists. Trains connect Kayu Tanam and Padang Panjang solely for tourists wishing to enjoy the beauty of Anai Valley. Visitors have included a member of the Amsterdam Academy, a Swiss engineer and several Australians.
In 1989 a woman painter called Luise Ross, who owns a gallery in the U.S., visited his workshop and was apparently quite impressed with what she saw. In a letter dated Sept. 20, 1989 she wrote, "I especially liked the series of black and white drawings -- they were very strong. At this time I don't think I can plan an exhibition of the drawings, but I will keep them in mind if I decide to do an exhibition of artists from Southeast Asia."
Os never followed up on the overture because he had his hands full taking care of his mother.
Os once painted a large work with Scotlicht paint. This drawing, 8m by 30m, depicts a dance hall in a bar at Caroline Beach outside of Padang.
In 1995, Os joined an exhibition held to commemorate the establishment of INS Kayu Tanam educational room at the Jakarta Arts Center in Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta. In 1997 he joined an exhibition held during the IX Nusantara Writers.
Osmania looks younger than his age. Although he has three grandchildren, he still likes dancing "just for sport". He dances cha-cha, waltz, tango and boogey. Once a week he visits Caroline to dance to dangdut music. "A physical exercise," he said, adding that it was good for him after painting for hours and even days on end.
Os has his own motto: "To make a drawing is just like making a film." Therefore, he said, his paintings tell of human social life.
When we look at his drawings, we cannot help engage ourselves in deep contemplation on life and loving kindness. "No matter how rich one is and how high one's social status is, one must never forget one's religion and god. No matter how advanced our technology is and how wealthy we are, we must be strongly faithful to our religion and God," he said.
And he always remembers the principle introduced to him at INS Kayu Tanam: Man must have freedom to lead his life in this world. Learning is freedom that gives birth to creativity.
In the middle of this year, Os plans to exhibit in Australia at the invitation of an Australian. However, he hopes that before going to Australia, he can exhibit his drawings in Jakarta and launch a book on his works, sources of stories that will never run dry.
Unfortunately, he is an artist with not enough money to turn his dreams into reality. "My drawings and my book are what I can dedicate to the painting world in Indonesia," he said.