Temple feast

More than any other Indo-European artist of the modern period, Belgian-born Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès has been pivotal in creating the myth of the Balinese female as artistic muse. Although he was extensively schooled in art since boyhood and already an accomplished travel painter during his early career, he is irrevocably best known for the works which focus on his wife, the temple dancer Ni Pollok, and her coterie of beautiful Balinese maidens within lush tropical landscapes. Like most young European middle-class males who yearned to see the world, Le Mayeur first left his native Belgium as a sailor bound for the United States. After a lengthy period of travelling through geographically far-flung places such as Africa, Tahiti and India, Le Mayeur finally discovered Bali at the ripe age of 52. Deeply enthralled, he settled down to paint out his remaining days in this island paradise, declaring "Cette fois j'allait vivre exclusivement pour mon art et que rien ne pourrait m'en distraire." ("This time I shall live exclusively for my art and nothing shall distract me.") Bali was to become a rich source of inspiration for Le Mayeur, and he devoted himself to the task of depicting his immediate surroundings: the Balinese people, the luxuriant flora, the beach and the sea, usually bathed in exuberant sunlight. Like many of the visitors to the island, he was fascinated with the rich creation of decorative arts, amazed of the abundance of weavers, woodcarvers, silversmiths as well as dancers. True to the spirit of painter-traveller, Le Mayeur upon his arrival on Bali made conscientious efforts to visit the temples, religious ceremonies or the pasar (market), so that he could be completely immersed in the atmosphere of the island.

Le Mayeur's rich, luminously tinted canvases illustrate the idyllic island setting of Bali, recreating it as the Polynesia of the East. Preferring a warm colour palette and semi-impressionistic style which infused his works with tropical sensuality, Le Mayeur excelled at depicting the grace and languor of Balinese dancers moving in a climate of warmth and charm. His artistic highlights undoubtedly are the vibrant group scenes, showing young dancers congregating on a wooden verandah during the heat of the afternoon or rehearsing in a sun-dappled garden overhung with hibiscus flowers and palm trees. Although his work depicts daily life in Bali, he is still an exponent of late European impressionism, which favours a gentle, earthy palette of yellow, brown, beige and soft blue which is contrasted to red, pink, orange and purple accents." (Drs. Job Ubbens and Cathinka Huizing, Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès: Painter-Traveller, The Netherlands, 1995, p. 127)

Drs Cathinka Huizing, co-author of the monography of Le Mayeur, has authenticated the present lot after firsthand examination.