Paintings show the way things were for 'Cap Go Meh'

The festival of Cap Go Meh on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year was one of the victims of the New Order's suppression of Chinese culture. Now that times have changed and Chinese arts in particular are enjoying a resurgence, art critic Agus Dermawan T. looks at how the festival was depicted in artworks of yesteryear.

JAKARTA (JP): Sudjojono, who was known as one of the foremost thinkers in the local arts community, always kept abreast of developments in Western fine arts, even before the country's independence in 1945.

He was an artist who strove to develop a deep understanding of Western classicism in the fashion of Vermeer, or the modernity of Lautrec and Van Gogh through to Picasso. Although he learned much about the development of art in overseas countries, it was still the cultural development at home which appealed to him most.

One of the phenomena he considered unique in this respect was the synthesis between elements of Chinese and indigenous culture in Indonesia. He asserted that the synthesis was a valuable form of acculturation.

He illustrated this belief in 1940's Cap Go Me, honoring the festive celebration which is often written locally as Cap Go Meh, held on the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar. Although it cannot be considered a masterpiece, the painting remains to this day one of the best works by an artist belonging to the Indonesian Association of Illustrators (Persagi), an artists' organization established in 1938.

The painting clearly shows Sudjojono's deep understanding of the festival, which will be celebrated this year, 2552 on the Chinese lunar calendar, on Wednesday. Cap Go Meh is always held when the moon is full; it is believed that flowers will secretly bloom at night, animals in the forest will be carried away by beautiful dreams and those dwelling in rivers and the sea will have their own feast on the moonlit night. When the earth is bright under the moonlight, human beings go out to enjoy their festivities, and young men and women, in a festive mood, seek their partners in life.

Sudjojono witnessed all of this merriment before the dark days of the Japanese occupation of Indonesia during World War II.

Young girls left home together, some accompanied by their parents, dressed in their Sunday best and wearing makeup. Young men turned themselves into the handsomest figures for the night.

They went in great numbers to the Chinese or Buddhist temples, not to pray but to see performances in the temples' yards such as potehi, a Chinese hand puppet show, or gambang kromong, a popular Chinese-Indonesian orchestra.

Or, perhaps they would go to a public square to watch a lenong, a type of folk theater indigenous to Jakarta. Under the bright full moon of Cap Go Meh, amid the festive atmosphere of potehi, lenong and gambang kromong performances, young men and women, both Chinese and indigenous Indonesian, were busy eying someone who caught their fancy.

Sudjojono's Cap Go Me, however, portrays what is behind all the merriment and therefore becomes a parody in caricature. The painting shows that, besides the young, older people, who would be better suited to sitting in their rocking chairs, were also busy finding their partners.

The painting shows an old man who has finally found his match. Following the movement of a masked dancer, "Mr. Old Man" also moves his hip with "a dictionary of life" in his armpit. A book is the symbol of knowledge and stamina to seize the future. In terms of Chinese symbolism, "Mr. Old Man" should actually pocket a handkerchief with the picture of Goddess Magu carrying peaches.

It is in this context that Sudjojono's humorous Cap Go Me finds its significance. It carries enduring humor, denoting that an old man assuming this behavior is still found today although it was painted many years ago amid the festive atmosphere of Cap Go Meh.

But all that stopped with Presidential Instruction No. 14/67 which banned all Chinese cultural activities in Indonesia, including Cap Go Meh. It was not until 1999 that the celebration was permitted to take place once again.

Symbolism

Chinese religious and traditional ceremonies, linked with the Buddhism of the Three Teachings (Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism), have become the source of inspiration for many paintings, architecture, places or objects related to them.

Affandi painted temples whenever he came across them. See, for example, his paintings Klenteng Surabaya (Surabaya Temple, 1965), Klenteng Yogya (Yogyakarta Temple, 1966) and Ruang Dalam Klenteng (Interior of a Temple, 1968). One of his paintings is even about Kwan Kong, Dewa Perang (Kwan Kong, the God of War, 1965). For Affandi, the artistic elements of a temple never ceased emanating the teachings of humanity.

Another noted Indonesian painter, Rusli, also frequently made the temples he visited in Semarang and Yogyakarta the subject of his paintings. He said that in a temple he found the harmony of yin and yang, heaven and earth, gentleness and violence, beauty and handsomeness. He could feel the beat of Mother Nature's rhythm in the dynamic and ornate architectural elements of a temple and felt something move his hand and soul to start working on his canvas. It is worth noting that both Affandi and Rusli were Muslims.

Basoeki Abdullah was inspired by attractions originating from the Chinese religious tradition. A number of his paintings, including Menyambut Tahun Rejeki (Welcoming the Year of Good Fortune), portray a dragon dance by martial arts practitioners in a Lunar New Year festivity. In Chinese beliefs, a dragon is the symbol of alertness and security.

Basoeki was also fond of painting of deer and herons, telling others that firm believers in the symbols asked him to make the paintings. Deer are the symbol of prosperity and God's bestowal (which is why the deer in the Bogor Palace are well cared for) while herons symbolize old age. The presidential palace in Jakarta has one of Basoeki's paintings titled Bangau Bangau ASEAN (ASEAN Herons). It is said a black heron can live for up to 1,000 years.

Concerning Chinese symbolism, Basoeki had the biggest number of orders to paint a mountain with water in the foreground. A mountain symbolizes firmness and water sincerity in life. There is a popular saying in Chinese culture: yu san yu sue (where there is a mountain, there is water). These two elements are believed to be of deep significance and suggestion.

While some symbols are auspicious and desirable, some others are inauspicious and should be avoided. One day Basoeki painted the picture of a beautiful woman in a field with a dragonfly flying by her side. A Chinese collector interested in the painting asked him to remove the dragonfly. In Chinese symbolism a dragonfly symbolizes weakness and hesitation.