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Lot Essay
"Although his style and colours developed, Hendra's choice of themes did not change dramatically in his painting life. From the beginning, it seems, Hendra was painting people in contexts of work and play, in celebration, struggle, and death. Such themes were well established long before he joined LEKRA. Seeds of Hendra's mature style were already in place in the 1950s, such as the tendency to depict people in profile or in silhouette, with a certain stylised exaggeration of facial features, expressive body movements, and long thin arms. This vocabulary is related to that of the wayang, which has influenced so much on one of the features that make Hendra's paintings look 'Indonesian'." -Astri Wright
Apart from the traditional theatrical art form of wayang or shadow puppetry, Indonesian modern master Hendra Gunawan is also distinctively influenced by the colours of traditional batik, a fabric that uses the wax-resist dyeing technique which is celebrated for its vibrancy of colours and patterning. Two strongly executed artworks which bear a focus on Hendra Gunawan's female forms, Penjual Kepiting (Crab Seller) (Lot 114) and Fish Seller (Lot 115) undoubtedly illustrate the influences of wayang and batik on Hendra and the viewer can observe a bold simplification of forms, contrasting areas of brilliantly lit colours, and a strong rhythmical surface design that is also a quality of the fabric. Both works also illuminate a consistent theme for the artist which is his unfailing celebration of women life - with the curvaceous female body splendidly enhanced by vivacious colors, the artist celebrates their roles on the street through a strongly dramatic effect that erodes the mundane nature of otherwise ordinary scene of daily life.
Astri Wright also discusses: "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 spread 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 stylization of human form found in wayang."
Penjual Kepiting (Crab Seller) is a well executed and classic Hendra Gunawan painting, depicting village folk engaged in marketplace transactions. A woman examines a clutch of crabs offered by a female vendor on the beach, her young son by her side. She wears a brightly colored kebaya complete with gauzy translucent blouse, revealing her kemban which barely contains her voluptuous figure. She is an archetypal Hendra creation in homage to the bold and beautiful Indonesian female, with her sumptuous apparel suggesting that she is from a well-to-do background. By contrast, the female crab seller is dressed in more somber colors to suggest her working class roots, yet her face is visually beautiful and striking. Hendra Gunawan also creates an illusion of depth within his vertical canvas, by displaying the beach running upwards behind the women, showing the figures of fisherfolk in the distance. This scene, so well-captured by Hendra, eloquently articulates narrates life and pastoral existence in a typical Indonesian village.
Similarly, Fish Seller also exemplifies the artist's main preoccupations, this time showing the solo figure of a female fish vendor examining her catch of the day. The theatrical setting of a beach at sunset surrounds the woman with a dramatic wind that sweeps her hair behind her, and casts the viewer's gaze into the endless horizon where sky meets land and sea.
Apart from the traditional theatrical art form of wayang or shadow puppetry, Indonesian modern master Hendra Gunawan is also distinctively influenced by the colours of traditional batik, a fabric that uses the wax-resist dyeing technique which is celebrated for its vibrancy of colours and patterning. Two strongly executed artworks which bear a focus on Hendra Gunawan's female forms, Penjual Kepiting (Crab Seller) (Lot 114) and Fish Seller (Lot 115) undoubtedly illustrate the influences of wayang and batik on Hendra and the viewer can observe a bold simplification of forms, contrasting areas of brilliantly lit colours, and a strong rhythmical surface design that is also a quality of the fabric. Both works also illuminate a consistent theme for the artist which is his unfailing celebration of women life - with the curvaceous female body splendidly enhanced by vivacious colors, the artist celebrates their roles on the street through a strongly dramatic effect that erodes the mundane nature of otherwise ordinary scene of daily life.
Astri Wright also discusses: "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 spread 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 stylization of human form found in wayang."
Penjual Kepiting (Crab Seller) is a well executed and classic Hendra Gunawan painting, depicting village folk engaged in marketplace transactions. A woman examines a clutch of crabs offered by a female vendor on the beach, her young son by her side. She wears a brightly colored kebaya complete with gauzy translucent blouse, revealing her kemban which barely contains her voluptuous figure. She is an archetypal Hendra creation in homage to the bold and beautiful Indonesian female, with her sumptuous apparel suggesting that she is from a well-to-do background. By contrast, the female crab seller is dressed in more somber colors to suggest her working class roots, yet her face is visually beautiful and striking. Hendra Gunawan also creates an illusion of depth within his vertical canvas, by displaying the beach running upwards behind the women, showing the figures of fisherfolk in the distance. This scene, so well-captured by Hendra, eloquently articulates narrates life and pastoral existence in a typical Indonesian village.
Similarly, Fish Seller also exemplifies the artist's main preoccupations, this time showing the solo figure of a female fish vendor examining her catch of the day. The theatrical setting of a beach at sunset surrounds the woman with a dramatic wind that sweeps her hair behind her, and casts the viewer's gaze into the endless horizon where sky meets land and sea.