Selasa, 21 Desember 2010

Inspiring Realism & Romanticism of Hofker

ARTIST DETAILS

W.G. Hofker (1902 - 1981)
Willem Gerard Hofker was born on 2nd May 1902 in The Hague, the Netherlands, as a son of Gerrit Jan Hofker, public servant with the Postal Services. 

For a while his father was a co-worker of De Nieuwe Gids and befriended members of the Eighties movement. He named his son after the painter Willem Witsen. 

Willem Hofker firstly attended the Haagse Academie and later, at age 14, attended the Rijksacademie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. He was also educated by Willem Witsen and Isaac Israel who were friends of his father, an amateur artist and writer, member of the literary movement 'de beweging van Tachtig'. In 1927 Willem Hofker won the 2nd price at the Prix de Rome. In 1930 he married Maria Rueter, also a painter, daughter of Georg Rueter, painter and lector at the Rijksacademie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. 

In the twenties Hofker concluded a number of monumental-decorative assignments, amongst others for the Koninklijke Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschappij (KNSM), for whom he made a few mural paintings on ships. Little is left of these assignments. Hofkers reputation as a portrait painter was such, that he received the assignment in 1936 to paint a portrait of queen Wilhelmina for the head office of the Koninklijke Pakketvaart Maatschappij (KPM) in Batavia, the former Dutch colonies in East-Indies. 

In 1938 the couple accompanied the painting to the Dutch East-Indies and concluded with a trip through the colonies. During this trip they made drawings and paintings of Indonesian subjects which could be reproduced and used by the KPM. 

The Hofker couple settled in Bali where Willem made popular drawings of Balinese landscapes and dancers. The Hofkers socialized with many painters, amongst other Spies, Strasser, Meyer and their good friend Rudolf Bonnet. In 1940 the couple moved to Ubud. In the period between 1938 to 1944 most of Hofker's work in Indonesia was made. His art pieces were refined and flowing, as well as poetic. In Bali he mainly painted temples and religious life on the island and he concentrated on the people of Bali. Many of his paintings are exhibited in Ubud in ARMA and the Neka Museum. 

In the Second World War Hofker and his friend Bonnet were forced by the KNIL (Royal Dutch East-Indies Army) in Surabaya to join the services, upon which his wife and he were interned, by the Japanese occupier, in different camps in 1943, he himself in Tana Toraja, in central Celebes (Sulawesi). During this period most of the sketches of Maria Hofker were lost. At the end of the war the couple did not want to join the Indonesian nationalists and returned to the Netherlands. 

Back in the Netherlands, in 1946, a difficult period arose for the Hofkers. The artistic climate had meanwhile changed entirely. The figurative work of Willem hardly found any recognition among colleagues. Fortunately portrait assignments started coming in quickly. In all Willem Hofker has painted approximately 800 portraits for individuals and for organizations, amongst which universities and banks. Including, in 1970, the portrait of Herman van den Wall Bake, president-director of the Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN). Willem Hofker also specialized in crayon drawings of city scapes of Amsterdam, where he mainly focused on architecture, 'portraits' of houses and cities. These Amsterdam drawings were bundled in three books. The Balinese collection appeared under the title 'Bali as seen by Willem Hofker' (1978). In the Netherlands Willem Hofker still recorded people and landscapes of Bali on paper and canvas. 

During the latter part of his life Willem Hofker has lectured much and also through the publishing of his drawings his reputation increased again. At this moment his Balinese landscapes and dancers are very much in demand. And also internationally the creations from Hofkers Balinese period in the last few years draw much attention. 

Willem Hofker lived in the Zomerdijkstraat in Amsterdam from 1934 to 1938 and from 1946 to 1967. He died in Amsterdam on 30th April 1981.

Another reference:  
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=294197969771






ARTWORK DETAILS:

Painter                                : W.G. Hofker
Subject/ Title                       : 4 span voor bierwagen
Dimension                           : 35 X 63 cm
Media                                 : etch on paper
Signature & remarks          : dated 1947, signed lower left: “W.G. Hofker” with pencil signature.
History/ provenance
of painting                           : authentic with no COA or provenance provided, only limited warranty letter from the present owner/ gallery*. The present owner acquired the painting from private collection of the previous owner.
Condition                             : The overall is good & well preserved; no trails of restoration or revision are found. 
  
SOLD







ARTWORK DETAILS:

Painter                                : W.G. Hofker
Subject/ Title                       : Cathedral - 1949
Dimension                           : 49.5 X 27.5 cm
Media                                 : etch on paper
Signature & remarks            : dated 1949, signed lower left: “W.G. Hofker” with pencil signature.
History/ provenance
of painting                           : authentic with no COA or provenance provided, only limited warranty letter from the present owner/ gallery*. The present owner acquired the painting from prominent auction house.
Condition                             : The overall is good & well preserved; no trails of restoration or revision are found.

SOLD




Tempestuous Graphic Compositions on Djirna's Figures

Artist Details 

I Made Djirna (1957)
Born in 1957 at Kedewatan, Ubud, Bali, I Made Djirna is one of Indonesia’s leading modern painters. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design at Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta (Indonesia Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta) in 1985, and is a member of Sanggar Dewata Indonesia (SDI). The artist, who is rooted in the village culture of Bali, is well-known as one who paints with an exceptionally versatile technique. In an Indonesian art world laden with statements of identity and political concerns, Djirna’s painting stand out as the expression of an acute personal sensitivity.

Djirna is very active in holding and joining exhibitions, both solo and group, in many Indonesian cities as well as overseas. He is known to be very productive and explorative in creating all kinds of experimental works, using various materials, techniques and styles for his art pieces. His themes of choice have an archetypal quality that renders them attractive well beyond the shores of his island of birth. They include the future of the mother, the threat of evil and the slow decaying of an idyllic agrarian world. Most importantly, his works burst with soul. His artistry is documented in a book, Selected Works of Made Djirna from the Year 2000 (2001). Now he lives and works in his home village.
A glance at Djirna’s multifaceted works shows his artistic motivations and the tempestuous emotions that influence his creative process. Djirna passionately transforms lines, colours, texture and figures into all kinds of graphic compositions. Sometimes he refuses to respect order, preferring to use his energy in a desperate effort to capture and eternalize the aesthetic moment, to prevent it from slipping trough his fingers. Consequently, Djirna’s works start out as a visual deconstruction, ordered and harmonious, but as they develop his endeavors to free himself from this discipline become obvious.
*source: Modern Indonesia Art from Raden Saleh to the Present Day




Artwork Details  
Painter                          : Made Djirna
Subject/ Title                 : People in Village
Dimension                     : 70 X 50 cm
Media                           : oil on canvas
Signature & remarks      : dated & signed bottom right: “Djirna 2000”.
History/ provenance
of painting                     : authentic with no COA or provenance shall be provided. The present owner acquired the painting from a prominent auction house.
Condition                      : good & well preserved, it’s ready to hang in good shape.

Senin, 20 Desember 2010

(Abdullah Family Series) Soedjono Abdullah - Romanticism in Lanscape Painting


Soedjono Abdullah (1911 - 1993)
Soedjono Abdullah was born in Yogyakarta on August 31, 1911 from a very talented artist family. His father, the famous landscape painter Abdullah Suriosubroto was the first Indonesian who graduated from the Academy of Fine Art in Amsterdam Holland during the Dutch colonial era. His younger brother Basuki Abdullah was also a well known painter with international reputation while Tridjata, his sister devoted her professional actualization in sculpting. It was Soedjono’s father, who gave his son early artistic training, including guidances in Barbizon style panoramic painting.

After finishing school, Soedjono worked as a poster maker for several advertisement agencies besides working on painting commissioned by his admirers. Due to the gifted skill in depicting or even beautifying the panoramic scenery on his canvas, he was often considered as a romanticism artist like his younger brother Basuki Abdullah. As he could perhaps be classified as one of “Mooi Indies (lit. Hindia Molek or beautiful Hindia)” genre painters, most of his painting’s objects were characterized stylishly with the aesthetic favors romantic, naturalistic landscape, hazy morning, given preference for scene of green mountain, shimmering reflection of sky fondling with the golden sunshine shining above green paddy field, etc. That “Mooi Indies” style indeed tended to portray country areas with emphasis on iconographies of three elements: mountain, paddy field, and coconut tree.

The great painter Sudjojono indicated without specifically mentioned the names that those “Mooi Indies” painters would be:
1.       Foreign, particularly Dutch colonial painters, who live only 2-3 years in Indonesia
2.       Those who were money-oriented artists.
3.       Local painters who imitate European second-grade painters who were technically sound but did not know whatever they were doing

But rough description of “Mooi Indies” character might or might not be found in Soedjono Abdullah depends on the angle we capture. Soedjono didn’t stop in traditional themes of those “Mooi Indies” objects; he was also very fond in expressing the people's day to day activities in rural areas, such as busy traditional market under the bright red flowered flamboyant tree, or the farmers harvesting their rice field, or the fishermen and their boat on sea and so on; of course without leaving behind the beauty. That’s why although on several paintings he depicted the circumstances of which in actual conditions they might be perceived as “hard-work”, Soedjono had never accentuated that struggle on to his canvas. All those kinds of sweaty work in which farmer plowing his paddy field, or fishermen going off-shore to catch up fishes, they would’ve never been described by Soedjono in that sense.

But Soedjono did never get bothered with all comments or debates of “Mooi Indies” things attributable to him directly or indirectly. He was consistent with his painting style and nothing changed. In fact, when he left Yogyakarta and moved to Salatiga, he had to also endure the difficult era of Japanese occupation in Parangtritis like others. Soedjono Abdullah evolved to become well known for his genre scenes of Javanese life and culture, and also for his romanticized landscapes.

In his old age Soedjono settled down in Kertosono; a small town in East Java, and retreated himself from the uproarious art stage in new era. He passed away there peacefully in July 1993.
 



Painter                          : S. Abdullah
Subject/ Title                 : Mountain Landscape
Dimension                     : 71 X 139 cm
Media                           : oil on canvas
Signature & remarks      : undated, signed lower left: “S. Abdullah”.
History/ provenance
of painting                     : authentic with no COA or provenance shall be provided. The present owner acquired the painting from a prominent auction house.
Condition                       : Good & well preserved, it’s ready to hang in good shape. 
 
SOLD

Minggu, 19 Desember 2010

(Abdullah Family Series) Abdullah Suriosubroto - A Pioneer of Natural Beauty

ABDULLAH SURIOSUBROTO (1878 - 1941)
Born in Semarang 1878, Abdullah Suriosubroto is adopted son of the prominent gentleman behind the National freedom movement Wahidin Sudirohusodo, MD. As expected to be “like father like son”, Abdullah followed his father’s path by enrolling medical school in Batavia (Jakarta). Furthermore, he was also subsequently sent to Netherlands to continue his study in medicine. But instead of studying Medical School, he preferred to enter the Academy of Fine Arts to study painting, where he received a thorough training in Western painting techniques. After coming back to Indonesia, he firmly decided to devote his further career in art. He was at the time widely known as the first Indonesian painter in 20th century after Raden Saleh who had just started establishing the Indonesian painter reputation in 19th century. His favorite objects were beauty landscapes from various places and angles.   

As a painter who inherited the “Mooi Indie” genre, Abdullah Suriosubroto was very conversant in expressing the elements of beauty in very detail. He described the object of plants or trees cluster by exposing the rhythm of components from close distance; particularly in his watercolor drawings. Looking at the object, we can sense a dynamic of leafs, twigs and every part of trees object are swaying as blown by the wind in subtle orchestra…  

According to Kusnadi, a fine art lover, it is unfortunate that these joyful and remarkable masterpieces are poorly published; they were treated as only art study materials. Some even critically opined that Abdullah’s paintings just represented a natural journey without in-depth interpretation.      

Regarding to the background, Abdullah Sr. then decided to live in Bandung to get closer with his favorite objects of nature, so he could express the fertility and beauty of Indonesia natural landscape in tranquility, elegance, and harmony. A lot of Bandung painters actually followed his style like Wahdi Sumanta. The father of reputable painters Sudjono Abdullah and Basoeki Abdullah, also trained a number of landscape painters. He spent his life in Bandung a few years before he moved to Yogyakarta for his last exploration of natural beauty for his paintings objects. He passed away there in 1941.   




Painter                          : Abdullah Suriosubroto
Subject/ Title                 : Bamboo Woods
Dimension                     : 74 X 125 cm
Media                           : oil on canvas
Signature & remarks      : undated, signed lower left: “Abdullah”.
History/ provenance
of painting                     : authentic with no COA or provenance shall be provided. The present owner acquired the painting from private collection of the previous owner.
Condition                      : a tiny spot of white fleck on the bottom left corner near to signature. The overall is good; no trails of restoration or revision are found.

SOLD