Lot Essay
Abram Salm's paintings were the product of the long time he had spent in Indonesia, first as a merchant at Surabaya, later as the owner of a tobacco plantation in Malang. His Indonesian oeuvre motivated the Amsterdam art dealers Frans Buffa & Zonen to publish an album titled Java, naar schilderijen en teekeningen van A. Salm, containing twenty four plates reproduced in colour by the gifted painter and lithographer J.C. Greive (e.g. Christie's Amsterdam, Indonesian Pictures, Watercolours and Drawings, 25 April 1995, lot 17). Such plate works could create a highly valued link between Indonesia and the Western world.
All of Salm's compositions that served as examples for the chromo lithographs were executed on small format, and therefore were transportable panels, which supports the theory that Salm painted them on the spot. In his Dutch landscapes a preference for larger formats is evident (e.g. Christie's Amsterdam, 19th Century European Pictures, Watercolours and Drawings, 25 April 1996, lot ..).
Other indications that Salm executed his work possibly in situe are f.i. the lack of preliminary sketches, and the fact that he labled the panels, inscribed the labels with quite precize topographical comments that later became the captions with the plates in the album.
The Indonesian works are rarely signed, but the inscriptions on these labels almost always start with the catchword 'Java'; followed by comments on the specific subject and end with his signature. (of ...... 19 oct 1994, lot 85)
The chromo lithographs are no exact copies of Salm's examples. Greive's slightly altered the final results by changing arrangements of staffage, balancing perpectives or adding a more detailed vegetation. For instance plate no. 11 De Weg van Buitenzorg naar de Vallei van Salakh differs in many ways from the picture carrying the same title (private collection, the Netherlands). The composition has been slightly changed and the suggestion of time expressed by an 'early morning light' in the original has not been followed by Greive. The resemblance of the left part of the present lot, as well as the suggestion of a 'golden-afternoon-light', also relate to the 11th lithograph plate. The present lot is therefore probably more accurate then the plate in showing the actual view. During his stay at the 'logement' somewhere between Bogor and Cigombong, Salm presumably painted two panels of views looking in different directions, amongst which our painting, possibly looking towards the North-west.
All of Salm's compositions that served as examples for the chromo lithographs were executed on small format, and therefore were transportable panels, which supports the theory that Salm painted them on the spot. In his Dutch landscapes a preference for larger formats is evident (e.g. Christie's Amsterdam, 19th Century European Pictures, Watercolours and Drawings, 25 April 1996, lot ..).
Other indications that Salm executed his work possibly in situe are f.i. the lack of preliminary sketches, and the fact that he labled the panels, inscribed the labels with quite precize topographical comments that later became the captions with the plates in the album.
The Indonesian works are rarely signed, but the inscriptions on these labels almost always start with the catchword 'Java'; followed by comments on the specific subject and end with his signature. (of ...... 19 oct 1994, lot 85)
The chromo lithographs are no exact copies of Salm's examples. Greive's slightly altered the final results by changing arrangements of staffage, balancing perpectives or adding a more detailed vegetation. For instance plate no. 11 De Weg van Buitenzorg naar de Vallei van Salakh differs in many ways from the picture carrying the same title (private collection, the Netherlands). The composition has been slightly changed and the suggestion of time expressed by an 'early morning light' in the original has not been followed by Greive. The resemblance of the left part of the present lot, as well as the suggestion of a 'golden-afternoon-light', also relate to the 11th lithograph plate. The present lot is therefore probably more accurate then the plate in showing the actual view. During his stay at the 'logement' somewhere between Bogor and Cigombong, Salm presumably painted two panels of views looking in different directions, amongst which our painting, possibly looking towards the North-west.