An exhibition opening on Monday, October 24, at the Consulate General of Indonesia in New York, will feature twenty-one 19th and 20th-century paintings and drawings that illustrate 100 years of evolution of Balinese wayang painting from precolonial times to the present.
The show includes large antique paintings created for Balinese temples and royal houses telling the Hindu-Buddhist stories of Bali’s shadow theater as well as more recent work showing the evolution of this art to smaller formats created for contemporary family temples in Bali and for Indonesian and foreign collectors.
“Preparations for a Festival in the Court of Prince Panji” by Nyoman Serenkog, a woman artist from the village of Kamasan, in a 2013 museum exhibition in Bali.
The exhibition will be open Monday through Friday, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, October 24 through November 7, 2016, at the Indonesian Consulate, 5 East 68th Street, New York, NY.
The two posts that follow just below show the other 20 paintings and drawings in the exhibition.
1. The Abduction of Sita, Anak Agung Gambir, Mas, natural pigments on paper, ca. 1910, 96.5 x 54.5 cm
2. Garuda, Wibawasu, Supratika, Anonymous, Karangasem District, natural pigments on machine-made cotton cloth, probably late-19th or early 20th century, 173 x 128.5 cm
3. Panji Wandering in the Mountains Encounters Princess Rangkesari, probably by Nyoman Dogol, Kamasan, natural pigments on hand-loomed cotton cloth, pre-World War II, probably 1920s, 183 x 84 cm
4. Panji at the Court Festivities of Gegelang, probably by Nyoman Dogol, Kamasan, natural pigments on hand-loomed cotton cloth, pre-World War II, probably 1920s, 216 x 87 cm
5. Deities of the Directions, Wayan Suweca, Kamasan, natural pigments on cotton cloth, 1973, 126.5 x 132.5 cm
6. Sutasoma and the Tigress, Gusti Ketut Kusir, Bedulu, natural pigments and acrylic on machine-made cotton cloth, probably 1950s, 200 x 81.5 cm
7. Sita’s Ordeal by Fire or Sita Satya, Pan Suda, Kamasan, natural pigments on cotton cloth, 1973, 134 x 89.5 cm
9. Semara and a Deputation of Deities, Anonymous, Kamasan, natural pigments on cotton cloth, Chinese coins attached at top with print cloth below, pre-World War II, 166 x 170 cm
9. Semara and Siwa, Anonymous, Kamasan, natural pigments on cotton cloth, 1973, 159 x 86.5 cm
10. Abduction of Sita, Nyoman Mandra, Kamasan, natural pigments on cotton cloth, 1973, 58 x 70 cm
Paintings 1-10 at the “Storytelling Art of Bali”
exhibition at the Consulate General of Indonesia, 5 E. 68th St. New
York, NY. The exhibition is open Monday to Friday from 10 AM to 4 PM
from Monday, October 24 through Monday, November 7, 2016.
11. Abduction of Sita, Made Swacita, Kamasan, natural pigments on cotton cloth, 1973, 87.5 x 58.5 cm
12. Sanghyang Aji Saraswati, Ketut Madra, Peliatan, ink on paper, 1973, 30 x 39 cm
13. Kumbakarna, Ketut Madra, Peliatan, ink and acrylic on paper, 1973, 30 x 40 cm
14. Walmiki Teaching the Sons of Rama and Sita, Ketut Madra, Peliatan, ink and acrylic on canvas, 1973, 38 x 28.5 cm
15. Hanoman Receives his Magical Kain Poleng from Siwa, Ketut Madra, Peliatan, ink and acrylic on paper, 1973, 27.5 x 38 cm
16. Kumbakarna, Wayan Suweca, Kamasan, natural pigments on cotton cloth, 1973, 99 x 87.5 cm
17. Sutasoma and Kala, Ni Made Suciarmi, Kamasan, natural pigments on cotton cloth, 1973, 86.5 x 66.5 cm
18. Boma and Kresna or Bomantaka, Wayan Yudara, Kamasan, natural pigments on cotton cloth, 1973, 87.5 x 58.5 cm
18. Meditation of Arjuna, Wayan Suweca, Kamasan, natural pigments on cotton cloth, 1973, 89.5 x 64 cm
20. Rama and Laksmana Released by Garuda from Meganada’s Attack, Nyoman Rumiana, Kamasan Natural pigments on cotton cloth, 1973, 122.5 x 80 cm
Paintings 11-20 at the “Storytelling Art of Bali” exhibition at the Consulate General of Indonesia, 5 E. 68th St. New York, NY. The exhibition is open Monday to Friday from 10 AM to 4 PM from Monday, October 24 through Monday, November 7, 2016.
Ubud’s Museum Puri Lukisan purchased four paintings from its recent exhibition Ketut Madra and 100 Years of Balinese Wayang Painting. Two works by Ketut Madra of Peliatan and two by the late Pan Semari of Kamasan join the museum’s permanent collection for display with other wayang work in Gedung III.
The exhibition and its catalog included 69 Balinese wayang paintings created over the previous century – 40 from my collection, 15 from Ketut Madra’s, and the remaining 14 from seven museums and private collections in the USA and Bali.
Hanoman and Surya by Ketut Madra (above, acrylic on canvas, 54.5 x 44 cm, 1972, #55 in the exhibition catalog) was the catalog cover image and was also used for one of the exhibition posters. One of the most widely reproduced paintings by Madra, it also appears in the September 2013 Departures magazine article Wayang: How to Paint a Legend.
Ketut Madra’s Dharmaswami (above, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 50.5 cm, 2013, #68 in the exhibition catalog) is a recent work completed just before the exhibition. It tells the same Tantri legend as the 1935 work by Ida Bagus Gelgel of Kamasan (below) – one of the best known and most highly regarded paintings in the Museum Puri Lukisan. Madra created the work especially for the exhibition to honor the Gelgel painting.
The other two paintings acquired by the museum are the work of Kamasan artist Pan Semari (1922-2000). Both depict Ramayana scenes in natural pigments with gold leaf on hardboard and include the appropriate verses in Balinese script. I bought the paintings from the artist in 1973.
Abduction of Sita, Pan Semari, 58 x 70 cm, 1973, exhibition catalog #29
Rama and Laksmana Released by Garuda from Meganada’s Nagapasa, Pan Semari, 58 x 70 cm, 1973, exhibition catalog #39
The village of Kamasan, south of Klungkung in Bali, has been known for centuries as a source of traditional Balinese paintings based on the great Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
The artists of Banjars Sangging and Siku in Kamasan originally painted for the temples, palaces, and homes of wealthy patrons in Gelgel and Klungkung and nearby regions. While wayang paintings are still created in most regions of Bali, the best work from Kamasan has become known as representing the continuation of the classical tradition of Balinese temple painting.
Kamasan work almost always includes a painted border which makes framing somewhat superfluous. Because Kamasan paintings on cloth often hang in Balinese temples and homes in ways that allow them to move with air currents, museum curators and conservators try to catch that feeling in their best practice of presenting these paintings.
The small Kamasan Ramayana painting above from the recent Museum Puri Lukisan exhibition in Ubud hangs freely on the museum wall. Painted by Made Swacita in 1973, the work depicts the Abduction of Sita in four scenes moving clockwise from the lower right to the upper right. The painting, #28 in the exhibition catalog, measures 87.5 x 58.5 cm.
The technique museum curators use to hang this kind of work is quite simple, and can be easily used for hanging these paintings at home. The photo below shows the rice-paper hinges on the back of the work above.
The hinges are attached first to the painting with rice-based glue, acquired in fine powder form and mixed with water to produce a paste of about the same consistency as “Elmer’s Glue” for wood products. When the glue is dry the other half of the hinge is attached to the backing.
Because Kamasan works are almost always painted on cotton cloth sized with rice paste and then polished, the ingredients in the hinge and glue are chemically identical to the cloth to which they are attached.
The backing for any long-term display can be either acid-free white cardboard, which is usually used in climate-controlled conditions in the USA and Europe, or polymeric corrugated board. In tropical conditions, the polymeric board is preferred as some insects find the cardboard delicious. This is what we used (above) at the Puri Lukisan exhibition, following advice of conservators at the National Archives of Singapore.
The bottom edge of any backing behind the painting can be several centimeters shorter than the top edge so it less visible to the viewer. The backing may be attached directly to the wall with stainless steel staples or small stainless nails.
This mounting procedure allows the paintings to “breathe” and to move in air currents and best replicates their appearance in a Balinese environment.
Bali Arts 