Lot Essay
S. Sudjojono is commonly regarded as the forerunner of Indonesian modern art; due primarily to his negative reaction towards the Mooie Indie (beautiful Indonesia) school which was the dominant artistic style during the last years of the colonial period, and was then best represented by Basoeki Abdullah.
To the self-taught artist "Painting is not only related to the conventional values of that sort. (ie. B. Abdullah's portraits of nobility and romanticized landscape). A pair of old shoes and Hamengku Buwono VII (the king of Yogyakarta), and the banks of the Ciliwung river (smelly waterway running through the centre of Jakarta) and the scenery of the Bromo mountains (a cool attractive area with beautiful scenery) are all the same. What gives value to the painting is not convention, but the soul of painter" (Seni Loekis, Kesenian dan Seniman, S. Soedjojono, Indonesia Sekarang, Jogyakarta, 1946, p.16.)
Sudjojono openly critisized the "hierarchy of reality" (Jim Supangkat, Indonesian Modern Art and Beyond, The Indonesia Fine Arts Foundation, Jakarta, 1997, p.38.), to him the carriage driver and the vegetable seller are the true heroes that constitute Indonesian history: their significance lies in their close relation with social realities. The present lot which shows an ensemble of singers on a self-made stage could be seen as a good exemple of the artist's favourite subject-matter: an extract from the daily scenes of the commoners.
To the self-taught artist "Painting is not only related to the conventional values of that sort. (ie. B. Abdullah's portraits of nobility and romanticized landscape). A pair of old shoes and Hamengku Buwono VII (the king of Yogyakarta), and the banks of the Ciliwung river (smelly waterway running through the centre of Jakarta) and the scenery of the Bromo mountains (a cool attractive area with beautiful scenery) are all the same. What gives value to the painting is not convention, but the soul of painter" (Seni Loekis, Kesenian dan Seniman, S. Soedjojono, Indonesia Sekarang, Jogyakarta, 1946, p.16.)
Sudjojono openly critisized the "hierarchy of reality" (Jim Supangkat, Indonesian Modern Art and Beyond, The Indonesia Fine Arts Foundation, Jakarta, 1997, p.38.), to him the carriage driver and the vegetable seller are the true heroes that constitute Indonesian history: their significance lies in their close relation with social realities. The present lot which shows an ensemble of singers on a self-made stage could be seen as a good exemple of the artist's favourite subject-matter: an extract from the daily scenes of the commoners.