QB World Art's, a tribute to foreign artists

QB World Art's, a tribute to foreign artists

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta

On Thursday, Nov. 28, the new outlet of QB World Books at Kemang
Raya marked the opening of its gallery named QB World Art with an
exhibition of paintings by 28 foreign artists who have either
lived or are still living in Indonesia.

By default, almost all of these artists have also been in
Bali. Bali and Oct. 12 Bali bombing have indeed been the impetus
to the exhibition. Emphasizing the merit of these 28 foreign
artists in enhancing and glorifying Indonesia through their art,
Oh further offers the exhibition as a tribute to the foreign
artists, whose paintings have in one or the other way made the
island, and Indonesia, known to the world.

Ever since the first foreign artist came to Bali, a visit to
this island has been a must for any foreign artist coming to this
part of the world. They either stayed for long periods of time,
or came back, again and again, for Bali has an atmosphere that
inspires as no other places. So much so, that some of these
artists became one with the art community and even generated the
development of Balinese art and artists.

The first foreign artist to set foot on Bali is the Dutch
artist W.O.J. Nieuwenhuys (1874-1950). He is believed to have
played a critical role in creating the myth of Bali through an
exhibition held in 1918 together with Gregor Krauser, a German
doctor and amateur photographer. This inspired many artists to
follow in his footsteps.

Nieuwenhuys also authored the most important early book on
Bali and Lombok (1906-1910), including pioneering and
ethnographic and archaeological studies. His drawings were
primarily in and executed in rich sepia hues. His work in this
exhibit, titled De Vogel, Bali is a woodcut on paper made in 1929
(42x36 cm).

It was also Nieuwenhuys who made Rudolf Bonnet (1895-1978) go
to Bali. Here Bonnet had found his paradise, where he not only
painted, but also co-founded the artist community Pita Maha,
together with I Gusti Nyoman Lempad, Cokorda Gde Agung Sukowati,
and the German artist Walter Spies -- who inspired the Balinese
to create the new dance form called Kecak.

Another legacy is the building and garden of Puri Lukisan
Museum in Ubud, which Bonnet designed in 1953. He died in Holland
(1978), but his ashes were brought to Bali and ceremoniously
thrown into the sea after being joined in the cremation of his
old friend Cokorda Gede Agung Sukowati (1979).

Unlike his usual elongated portraiture of Balinese males, the
painting in this exhibition surprisingly shows the Campuan
Landscape in pastel on paper (23 x 40 cm), and made in 1953.

Arie Smit (born 1916) came to Indonesia in 1938 as a soldier
and a lithographer for the Dutch Army in Indonesia. It was not
before 1956 that he could set foot on Bali, and has lived there
ever since.

He is among the best known, particularly as one who has given
the impetus to the Young Artists movement in Bali. Smit loves the
landscape and the "riotous" light in Bali, and that is evident
from the painting in this exhibit titled Rainy Season (2000),
acrylic on canvas 28 x 34 cm.

Pieter Ouborg (1893-1956) came to Indonesia in 1916 and became
progressively involved with the activities of the Batavia Art
Association, while distancing himself from the Mooi Indies style.
The first artist to paint in a cubist style in Indonesia, he also
made drawings in ink on paper, as evident in his work Woman
Sitting, Bandung (1932) 32 x 24 cm presented in the exhibit

Quite a surprise both by way of painting as well of name is
Mt. Gungung Agung (2001), Bali, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm by
French born Dhaimeler (b. 1947), who is no other than Didier
Hamel of the Duta Fine Art Foundation.

Apart from his significant contribution given in the writing
of art books, and his key role in bringing together paintings in
this exhibit, his painting is the only one "bursting" in colors
lighting up in celebration of the sun. Orange mountains, yellow
and green hills against a blue sky with white washed low hanging
clouds and framed in fitting dark brown.

The exhibition also features works by Gerard Pieter Adolfs
(1897-1968), Emilio Ambron (1905-1996), Francois Brochet (1925-
2001), Ernst Dezentje (1884-1972), Donald Friend (1915-1989),
Willem Gerard Hofker (1902-1981), Arthur Jo Koening ( -1951),
Theo Meier (1908-1982), Diego Menendez (born 1956), Piet Moojen
(1879-1955), Pieter Ouborg (1893-1956), Ken Pattern Hendrik
Paulides (1982-1967), Hugo Von Pedersen (1870-1959), Jan
Poorternaar (1886-1958), Emil Rizek (1901-1988), Rudolf Schmidt,
Han Snel (1925-1998), Auke Sonnega (1910-1963, Roland Strasser
(1892-1974), John van der Sterren (born in 1938) and Richard
Winkler (born in 1969)

Will Indonesia, and specifically Bali, continue to attract and
be an inspiration to artists from throughout the world? This,
apparently, is what the QB World Art Gallery tries to pursue. As
QB's Richard Oh states, it is the first step in an effort to
ensure that Indonesia remains an everlasting paradise for
artists.