Rare paintings on offer at the Regent

JAKARTA (JP): A rare painting exhibition and auction of priceless artwork from before World War II will be held next week in the Grand Ballroom at The Regent Hotel from Nov.22 to Nov. 24.

The exhibition and auction, titled The Old Paintings of Pre- World War II, will present extraordinary paintings of Indonesian and international artists whose works belong to that period.

Among the works belonging to A.GA Fine Art's include: Dullah's Ibu Kasimah estimated at between US$5,000 and $7,500; Affandi's Kuda Tarung (Fighting Horse) estimated at between $12,000 and $17,000; S. Soedjojono's Potret Raden Saleh estimated at between $12,000 and $18,000; and many other works by famous painters.

The auction will also offer works by the world's most renowned painters, such as Pablo Picasso, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Marc Chagall, Vincent van Goh, Amadeo Modigliani, Kees Van Dongen and Diego Rievera, whose works were found in many parts of Indonesia.

Renoir's Girl with a Flower, estimated to fetch between $1.5 million and $2 million, was found in a plantation area in Semarang, Central Java. The observation indicates that the old painting seems to be the original work of Renoir.

Chagall's A Bride's Dream, estimated at between $600,000 and $900,000, was found in the Depok area of West Java. The observation reveals that this oil painting seems to be the painter's earlier work.

Rievera's Amazed, estimated to fetch from $40,000 to $60,000, was found in Cianjur, West Java, while Picasso's El Toro Rosa, estimated to run between $200,000 and $300,000, was found at a flea market.

Vincent van Gogh's Two Corn Farmers, estimated to fetch between $2.5 million and $4 million, was found in Riau, Sumatra. The observation of this oil painting indicates that this seems to be the painter's later work.

Painter and art observer Sulebar M. Soekarman mentioned that western paintings reached Indonesia as early as the seventeenth century.

In l902, the Netherlandse-Indische Kunstkring (Netherlands- Indies art circle) was founded in Batavia with great enthusiasm. Other cities in Java and outer provinces followed suit, and the Bond van Kunstkringen was established in l916.

The Bataviasche Kunstkring (Batavia art circle) built a museum through the readiness of the industrialist, P.A. Regnault, who was a manufacturer of paint in the Indies and a collector in the Netherlands, to do for Batavia what was done for the Statdelijk Museum in Amsterdam: yielding loans of modern paintings.

From 1934 to l939, Regnault annually sent a group of interesting paintings, contemporary works of Dutch, Belgian, French, Italian and Spanish artists to Batavia, including paintings by Chagall, Picasso, Dufy, van Dongen, Redon, Utrillo, Gauguin and Zadkine, Vincent van Gogh.

When Japanese troops landed in Indonesia, part of the collection was kept in storage at the Javasche Bank, now Bank Indonesia.

The event will be divided into two sections -- the exhibition and auction. The first will be the public exhibition from Nov.23 to Nov.24.

The auction, organized by the Batavia Auctioneer, will be held on Nov.24. The first part will take place from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and the second from 7.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. (raw).