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The Young Artist School Style
Suddently, around 1956, a new style of modernism appeared. Under the guidance and encouragement of Dutch painter Arie Smit, young boys around Penestanan and Ubud began creating naive three-dimensional paintings based on scenes from their daily life: a village street, a woman feeding hens, people working the harvest or bartering at the market, ritual and dance festivals, birds and animals, a cremation-themes that had never been attempted before. This movement became known as the Young Artists School, and the exuberant paintings in bright, bold, hallucinogenic colors found a ready market. Here was taking place a rekindling of artistic expression, a new realism that soon developed into a sophisticated, distinctive, naturalistic style. A new generation of Balinese artists came to the fore - I Sobrat, Made Griya, Gusti Njoman Lempad, Ida Bagus Made, Ida Bagus Anom. Though they all had unique styles, these artists were traditionally talented. That is, their genius only found expression working within the general iconography and formal framework of tradition. Their skills were still aimed at making recognizable shapes and characters that could be related to traditional stories or themes known to sell. During this early period, pleasingly harmonized mosaics of spindly black lines washed with foreboding gray and black tones appeared. Canvases became crowded with dark fantastic forests; strange ghostlike animals; tenuous, halftone figures of villagers almost hidden amid shadowy jungle vegetation; or nightmarish visions of monsters with snakes for genitals. Towering over the group was Gusti Nyoman Lempad (1862-1978) of Ubud, a master artisan, carver, architect, and painter. He was both a strong advocate of conservative Balinese culture and an avid cross-cultural innovator. Choosing as his medium paper rather than larger-sized cloth, Lempad was the first in the group to experiment with the single-scene format, rather than multiple narrative frames. His works illustrated episodes from Bali's rich folklore and mythology. In 1936, together with Spies, Bonnet, and the nobleman Tjokorde Sukawati, Lempad helped found an art association, Pita Maha ('Great Vitality'). The group presented exhibitions in Java and Europe and maintained a high level of quality among its members. For the first time, art began to be bought by collectors and museums. At its peak in the 1930s, Pita Maha counted more than 150 painters, sculptors, and silversmiths among its ranks. By the time Lempad died at the age of 116, the society had emancipated Balinese painting from its comatose state. Anyone who has an interest in Lempad should see the brilliant film made of his life and the magnificent body of art and architecture he left behind. Directed by John Darling and the late Lorne Blair, it is available through Mystic Fire Video Inc., Box 1092, Cooper Station, New York, NY 10276 (tel. 800-292-9001). Art critics have mistakenly compared Balinese painting with the eerie jungle scenes of Henri Rousseau, with the black-and-white ornamental illustrations of Aubrey Beardsley, and even with the gruesome spooky fantasies of the 15th-century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch. Although Balinese painting shares some similarities with the themes and techniques of these artists, it's almost certain that early Balinese artists never saw their works. |
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