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Lot Essay
Hendra's portrayal of women is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful female portraits in the history of Indonesian Modern Art. Indeed, it is difficult to find parallels for them in the Indonesian history of portraiture as these ravishing images are rendered with the most unique and individualistic style of the artist. The artist's muse is not of a specific person but rather he drew inspiration from the many women he knew of in the community. She could be a vendor on the side of the street, a neighbour or simply someone who was just in passing and whom Hendra managed to catch a glimpse of and thus transposed into an eternal icon on the canvas.
The 'woman' was a reflection of the artist's cosmos. Hendra's obsession with all things 'Indonesian' finds a perfect expression with this subject. If she was breastfeeding a baby with her strong, masculine like feet rooted firmly to the ground, she was a symbol of the artist's beloved motherland, the young republic of Indonesia. If she was depicted in glorious colours, dressed in the finest traditional batik, she would be the symbol of the great Javanese culture that was close to the artist's heart. If she was placed in a grandiose landscape with which she could almost merge as one entity with her curvaceous body, which Hendra had intended it to be reminiscent of the dramatic landscape, she would be the embodiment of all things that are beautiful and Indonesian. Hers was the privileged body on which the light fell to perfection.
Many factors contributed to the exceptional quality of Woman waiting patiently. The composition is typical of Hendra's classical portraitures where the sitter, with her elongated and slender frame, donned a batik dress of exquisite intricacy and had her side profile enhanced. The palette is exceptionally rich, made up of colours that are deeply saturated and yet luminous and vibrant. The paint was applied with such spontaneity and vigor that it still looks fresh, as if Hendra had completed the painting only moments ago.
Her body was rendered by the same undulating forms that had characterized much of Hendra's work since the early days, but whereas before the forms had so often seemed predatory, whence by this stage of the artist's career (1960s onwards) it had evolved to be slower, softer, more welcoming and more organic.
It seems with Woman waiting patiently, Hendra was at his whimsical best. As a colourist, the red and green shades complimented one another with a vividness that is in accordance to Hendra's decorative tendency, which he developed further in this work by painting the enhanced details of the foliage that crowns the sitter, granting her a bejeweled effect and mesmerising the onlooker.
The 'woman' was a reflection of the artist's cosmos. Hendra's obsession with all things 'Indonesian' finds a perfect expression with this subject. If she was breastfeeding a baby with her strong, masculine like feet rooted firmly to the ground, she was a symbol of the artist's beloved motherland, the young republic of Indonesia. If she was depicted in glorious colours, dressed in the finest traditional batik, she would be the symbol of the great Javanese culture that was close to the artist's heart. If she was placed in a grandiose landscape with which she could almost merge as one entity with her curvaceous body, which Hendra had intended it to be reminiscent of the dramatic landscape, she would be the embodiment of all things that are beautiful and Indonesian. Hers was the privileged body on which the light fell to perfection.
Many factors contributed to the exceptional quality of Woman waiting patiently. The composition is typical of Hendra's classical portraitures where the sitter, with her elongated and slender frame, donned a batik dress of exquisite intricacy and had her side profile enhanced. The palette is exceptionally rich, made up of colours that are deeply saturated and yet luminous and vibrant. The paint was applied with such spontaneity and vigor that it still looks fresh, as if Hendra had completed the painting only moments ago.
Her body was rendered by the same undulating forms that had characterized much of Hendra's work since the early days, but whereas before the forms had so often seemed predatory, whence by this stage of the artist's career (1960s onwards) it had evolved to be slower, softer, more welcoming and more organic.
It seems with Woman waiting patiently, Hendra was at his whimsical best. As a colourist, the red and green shades complimented one another with a vividness that is in accordance to Hendra's decorative tendency, which he developed further in this work by painting the enhanced details of the foliage that crowns the sitter, granting her a bejeweled effect and mesmerising the onlooker.