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Lot Essay
As a leading figure in the first generation of Indonesian modern art, Hendra Gunawan's works are imbued with humanity and empathy for the common people, depicting the reality of their daily lives and tasks. As a nationalistic artist, his painted works are dedicated to his native Indonesia, and are a pictorial homage to his country and its people. His paintings express a raw emotion that is juxtaposed with the stylized exaggeration of his figures. Hendra uplifts and glorifies the female spirit as active, strong, nurturing, beautiful, and hardworking – irreplaceable to the functioning of everyday life and society. Their curvaceous female bodies are enriched with vivacious colours as the artist highlights the importance of women and their roles in ordinary scenes of daily life.
"Hendra's women are types, not clearly distinguishable individuals, and many interpretations of their roles and meanings are possible. At the most basic level, they are nourishing, nursing, mothering beauties, voluptuous and undulating bodies wrapped in brightly coloured cloth. Their forms are echoed by the forms of papayas, eggplants, and cucumbers. They are young and their long graceful arms, exaggerating the elegant hand movements that are so typically Javanese, contrast with their thick feet with widely spread toes - the feet of villagers and farmers. This way of depicting feet, as well as the use of exaggerated profiles, with long necks, protruding noses, and large eyes, echoes the stylization of human form found in wayang.”
-Astri Wright
The present lot Penjual Ayam is a classic example of Hendra Gunawan's genre village scenes. The main female figure is drawn with strong features and undulating grace, wearing brightly patterned fabrics and displaying lithe, sinuous limbs highly reminiscent of traditional carvings and Sundanese puppetry. She is bent over carrying her load on her back, setting off for the market ostensibly at the break of dawn, with the tranquil landscape in the foreground. Hendra paints the main female figure with which she could almost merge as one entity with her curvaceous body, blending in artfully into one with the dramatic landscape, as an embodiment of all things beautiful and Indonesian – the land and its people.
"Hendra's women are types, not clearly distinguishable individuals, and many interpretations of their roles and meanings are possible. At the most basic level, they are nourishing, nursing, mothering beauties, voluptuous and undulating bodies wrapped in brightly coloured cloth. Their forms are echoed by the forms of papayas, eggplants, and cucumbers. They are young and their long graceful arms, exaggerating the elegant hand movements that are so typically Javanese, contrast with their thick feet with widely spread toes - the feet of villagers and farmers. This way of depicting feet, as well as the use of exaggerated profiles, with long necks, protruding noses, and large eyes, echoes the stylization of human form found in wayang.”
-Astri Wright
The present lot Penjual Ayam is a classic example of Hendra Gunawan's genre village scenes. The main female figure is drawn with strong features and undulating grace, wearing brightly patterned fabrics and displaying lithe, sinuous limbs highly reminiscent of traditional carvings and Sundanese puppetry. She is bent over carrying her load on her back, setting off for the market ostensibly at the break of dawn, with the tranquil landscape in the foreground. Hendra paints the main female figure with which she could almost merge as one entity with her curvaceous body, blending in artfully into one with the dramatic landscape, as an embodiment of all things beautiful and Indonesian – the land and its people.