Evening star., 1951-06-24
Ar
Indonesion Art
Exhibition Opens
At Arts Club

| Exhibition Opens
At Arts Club
By Florence S. Berrymon
The first presentation in the
United States of Indonesian art
officially sponsored by its native
government will be opened this
Afternoon by the Ambassador of
Indonesia. Ali Sastroamidjojo, at
an invitation preview at the Arts
Club. 1t will be on view to the
p u bile beginning tomorrow ),
through July Il. after which it will
begin a tour of this country.
The display will include Is
paintings, part Of q larger collec-
ton recently exhibited at The
Hague, enroute IN the United
States from Djaka- wooden fig
lures. wajang pup It's, styled
dance masks carved from wood,
Ibatik and kat fabrics. A display in
the aforementioned cAtegories was
shown at the Library of Congress
several years ago.
Two contemporary Indonesian
artists. Kerton and Barli, who are
accompanying the exhibition on its
international tour, will be intro
Iduced this afternoon, by their Am
baSSador.
Nine OF the paintings to bel
shown are traditional in style and
subject, concerned primarily with
Balinese life and folk epics. "TheI
Battle Between the Monkeys and
Ithe Giant Demons" for example, 1
lis based upon the Hindu epic
The Ramayana."
The larger group of 1e oils.
water colors and pastels comprises
works by eight contemporary Indo-
nesian modernists. Influenced byI
Western ideas, they have broken
away from the traditional art
forms Of previous centuries.
The art Of Indonesia, according
to Soedarpo Sastrosatomo, press
|attache Of its Embassy, has re-
|f1ected through the centuries, the
impact Of diverse cultures from
both East and West Hindu, Mos
lem and European. The Indone-
sian peoples. he said, throughout
their long cultural history, have
been receptive to foreign ideas, as
Stimulating and integrating them
with earlier Indonesian concepts toI
produce q distinctive art.
In its earliest phases. In
donesian art was chiefly monu-
mental and sculptural, simple and
realistic, depicting scenes relating
to ancestor worship. Influenced
by Indo-C China in the sixth CEN
tury BE-, it became markedly
decorative and ornamental, and
the style developed then, which isl
now considered "typically Indo-
nesian." From that period, it isl
believed. dates the "ikat" or tie-i
and-dye technique Of weaving,
with its highly stylized geometri-
cal patterns, decorated with fig
ures Of flowers, men and animals.
The Hindu culture, entering In
donesia in the first century AID.
Influenced profoundly the religiousI
and social life of the people, and
all aspects Of their art. Most of
the art Of the first centuries Of
Hindu civilization has been lost.
But by the eighth century q dis
tinctive du-Indonesian style
emerged. which reached its height
in the 18th and 14th centuries. Its
was almost exclusively
religious. Painting and sculptureI
we're dedicated to the Hindu epics,
with surviving aspects Of the ear
lier ancestor cult.
Islamic culture entered in the
18th century. bringing strife with
the Hindu -Indonesian political
forces, with a resultant near
eclipse Of art. and a cultural
lethargy which continued during
the next four centuries.
At the beginning Of the goth
century, Indonesian intellectuals,
depressed over the long cultural
lag, undertook to prepare the way
for q cultural regeneration. A
few artists won fame in the Eu-
ropean art world. In the years.
preceding World War II, group
Of young artists endeavored to de-
velop a genuine Indonesian art
through the adaptation of modern
Western techniques. Works of
several Of them will be included
in the exhibition to open this
afternoon.
X n II X