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Naked Man Fleeing
Details
Ida Bagus Kembeng (Tebasaja, 1897-1954)
Naked Man Fleeing
Wash technique on paper, black ink framing lines, framed and glazed.
37 x 29 cm.
Kembeng was a dalang (wayang puppet player) of the Brahman cast in Tebasaja (between Ubud and Peliatan), where he cuts his own puppets. According to Bonnet, Kembeng already executed work in the style of the 'old school' before 1927 (cf. literature: R. Bonnet, Djawa, "Beeldende kunst in Gianjar", 1936). After 1927 he moved away from the traditional subjects and began to paint 'modern' subjects such as fishermen and trance dances. The artist was a member of the Pita Maha artists' association. He is amongst the first and most famous painters of the Pita Maha years. The appearance of his work in Balinese modern art collections is a rare event. Kembeng had three sons who became painters as well: Ida Bagus Wiri (born 1913), the famous Ida Bagus Made (born 1915), and Ida Bagus Belawa (born 1917), all evidently indebted artistically to their father.
The strong stylistic influence that Kembeng had on younger artists seems to be best exemplified by an early work from 1934 by Sobrat, in which Kembeng's style and technique may be better recognised than that of Spies or Bonnet. (Puri Lukisan, A. A. Gede Sobrat, Dance of the Barang Landung, inv. no. PL/66/L).
A painting of an Ardja performance earned him a silver medal at the Paris World Exhibition, in 1937. The subject of the present lot remains unidentified: the memory of the unwritten corpus of Balinese folk tales is easily forgotten by the current generation. Inscribed with the artist's name on the reverse by Rudolf Bonnet: "I. B. Kembeng, Tebasajah".
See also the List of Exhibitions in this catalogue.
Naked Man Fleeing
Wash technique on paper, black ink framing lines, framed and glazed.
37 x 29 cm.
Kembeng was a dalang (wayang puppet player) of the Brahman cast in Tebasaja (between Ubud and Peliatan), where he cuts his own puppets. According to Bonnet, Kembeng already executed work in the style of the 'old school' before 1927 (cf. literature: R. Bonnet, Djawa, "Beeldende kunst in Gianjar", 1936). After 1927 he moved away from the traditional subjects and began to paint 'modern' subjects such as fishermen and trance dances. The artist was a member of the Pita Maha artists' association. He is amongst the first and most famous painters of the Pita Maha years. The appearance of his work in Balinese modern art collections is a rare event. Kembeng had three sons who became painters as well: Ida Bagus Wiri (born 1913), the famous Ida Bagus Made (born 1915), and Ida Bagus Belawa (born 1917), all evidently indebted artistically to their father.
The strong stylistic influence that Kembeng had on younger artists seems to be best exemplified by an early work from 1934 by Sobrat, in which Kembeng's style and technique may be better recognised than that of Spies or Bonnet. (Puri Lukisan, A. A. Gede Sobrat, Dance of the Barang Landung, inv. no. PL/66/L).
A painting of an Ardja performance earned him a silver medal at the Paris World Exhibition, in 1937. The subject of the present lot remains unidentified: the memory of the unwritten corpus of Balinese folk tales is easily forgotten by the current generation. Inscribed with the artist's name on the reverse by Rudolf Bonnet: "I. B. Kembeng, Tebasajah".
See also the List of Exhibitions in this catalogue.