THE ART OF BALI:
REFLECTIONS OF FAITHS (Klaus D. Hohn)
Pictures Publishers The Netherlands, 1994

This book has the advantage of dealing with a specific school, that of the village of Batuan. It is also generously illustrated. However, apart from a short introduction showing that change was already underway prior to the arrival of Western artists in the late 20s, this book is little more than a list of Batuan artists. The author insists on the individual biography of the painters, which is of little importance, and yet to discuss the collective soul which permeates the Batuan style and in particular its iconography. The miniaturist school of the 70s and 80s is also completely overlooked.

INDONESIAN HERITAGE, VOL. 7: VISUAL ART
(Archipelago Books) Singapore, 1998

Indonesian Heritage, vol.7: Visual Arts is the section of a newly published encyclopedia devoted to the visual arts. Spread over 17 pages (pp110 - 127) it is the most up-to-date and the most complete text on Balinese visual arts yet to be published. It consists of a series of spreads, authored by scholars, and each devoted to a particular period or particular aspect of Balinese visual art since colonial times. The first spread, ‘Innovation on Tradition’, discusses the changes that were taking place within the visual arts in Bali at the time Bali was incorporated into the Dutch colonial regime. The spreads entitled ‘Pita Maha’ and ‘Questions of Influence’ discuss the extent and limits of foreign influence (mainly the painters Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet), in the pre-war, Pita Maha period. After an article on the great Balinese artist Lempad, and the principal schools of painting of the Pita Maha period, two spreads are devoted to the parallel revolutions in sculpture: the expressive and refined styles. Two pages follow on the post-Pita Maha schools and a final spread deals with the arrival of modern, city-educated painters.

THE EPIC OF LIFE:
A BALINESE JOURNEY OF THE SOUL
(Idana Pucci, Alfred Van der Mark) New York, 1985

This is the only illustrated book fully devoted to Balinese classical, wayang-style painting. It gives a narrative inventory of the ceiling paintings found at the Kerta Ghosa and the nearby Bale Kembang in Klungkung. These paintings illustrate important narratives of Balinese classical literature, such as Bhima Swarga and Sutasoma, but their most interesting aspects are the stories of daily life and depictions of hell that occupy the lowest part of the ceilings.

next page

[top]
[welcome page]

copyright © 1999 Bali Echo. All rights Reserved
site design by : Access Bali Online