.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The present owners of the work were members of a swedish amnesty group in the late 60s and they got the artist as their 'adopted prisoner'. It was a time when the artist was kept in the Kepon Waru prison in Bandung for his alleged political involvement with communists. The group along with other amnesty groups of other countries tried all possible means to influence the authorities for the release of the artist and failing which, they worked hard to improve his situation in the prison, ensuring humanitarian treatment and most important of all, enabling Hendra to paint in the prison.
It was in 1975/76 that a representative from the amnesty group in London got the permission to visit Hendra in the prison and bought the present work from him. The work was eventually offered to the members of the swedish amnsty group and the present owner bought it in support of the artist.
Hendra celebrates female beauty unabashedly. The beauty that transcends the mere physical appearance but also highlights the inner strength that is so elemental to the on going procreation as well as the nourishment of the young. This is the reason why most of his women are place in the midst of nature, very often close to the mother earth so much so that at times the curvaceous female bodies almost blend into the sensuous landscape.
"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 spaced 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 stylisation of human form found in wayang. (Astri Wright, Soul, Spirit, and Mountain: Preoccupations of Contemporary Indonesian Painters, Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1994, p. 176.)
It was in 1975/76 that a representative from the amnesty group in London got the permission to visit Hendra in the prison and bought the present work from him. The work was eventually offered to the members of the swedish amnsty group and the present owner bought it in support of the artist.
Hendra celebrates female beauty unabashedly. The beauty that transcends the mere physical appearance but also highlights the inner strength that is so elemental to the on going procreation as well as the nourishment of the young. This is the reason why most of his women are place in the midst of nature, very often close to the mother earth so much so that at times the curvaceous female bodies almost blend into the sensuous landscape.
"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 spaced 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 stylisation of human form found in wayang. (Astri Wright, Soul, Spirit, and Mountain: Preoccupations of Contemporary Indonesian Painters, Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1994, p. 176.)