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Lot Essay
The elegance and beauty of the floral still-life arrangement in the present lot is as much an accomplished picture as it is a revealing portrait of the artist Sudjojono at a key moment in his life. Painted in 1956, Rangkaian Bunga dalam Piala stands at the confluence of the artist's immediate past as a realist painter of revolutionary subjects and a later modern painter, whose humanist interests show through in his choice of subjects and in his personal life.
In 1956, the year the present painting was executed, Sudjojono had met his wife, Rose Pandanwangi, and little did he know that three years following their meeting, they would have chosen to live together and marry each other. The marriage to Rose Pandanwangi was Sudjojono's second, and it was in choosing to lead a new married life that he gave up on politics and turned away from the technique and ethos of social realism. In his new life, Sudjojono painted more domestic scenes, landscapes and still-life paintings than in the same period prior to his second marriage.
The significance of the present lot, Rangkaian Bunga dalam Piala lies in that it predates many of the bouquet still-life paintings that Sudjojono painted all through the 1960s to 1983 when he passed away. As one of the earliest known floral still-life painting of the artist, the work is characterized by a heightened sense of realism, attributable to the prevailing realist orientation Sudjojono found himself tending to in the mid-1950s. Here, the flowers and the vase isare rendered with clarity and strong outlines, showing up well against the light source streaming in through the window. The large floral arrangement is composed with great balance and presence in the centre of the pictorial space, showing the artist's preference for order and perfection. Could Rangkaian Bunga dalam Piala be read allegorically as the artist's yearning for a better life? What is certain is that Sudjojono, through his paintings, has left us disclosures and clues onto key moments in the life of an artist and a family man.
In 1956, the year the present painting was executed, Sudjojono had met his wife, Rose Pandanwangi, and little did he know that three years following their meeting, they would have chosen to live together and marry each other. The marriage to Rose Pandanwangi was Sudjojono's second, and it was in choosing to lead a new married life that he gave up on politics and turned away from the technique and ethos of social realism. In his new life, Sudjojono painted more domestic scenes, landscapes and still-life paintings than in the same period prior to his second marriage.
The significance of the present lot, Rangkaian Bunga dalam Piala lies in that it predates many of the bouquet still-life paintings that Sudjojono painted all through the 1960s to 1983 when he passed away. As one of the earliest known floral still-life painting of the artist, the work is characterized by a heightened sense of realism, attributable to the prevailing realist orientation Sudjojono found himself tending to in the mid-1950s. Here, the flowers and the vase isare rendered with clarity and strong outlines, showing up well against the light source streaming in through the window. The large floral arrangement is composed with great balance and presence in the centre of the pictorial space, showing the artist's preference for order and perfection. Could Rangkaian Bunga dalam Piala be read allegorically as the artist's yearning for a better life? What is certain is that Sudjojono, through his paintings, has left us disclosures and clues onto key moments in the life of an artist and a family man.