Bali art scholar Siobhan Campbell reviews Lempad of Bali in the journal of The Asian Art Society of Australia.
Lempad of Bali
A towering presence in Balinese art, I Gusti Nyoman Lempad (1863-1978) was the greatest Balinese artist of the 20th century. He lived a life of mythical proportions, gaining wide recognition from the local art community as well as from foreign anthropologists, researchers and artists who lived in Bali during the 1920s and 1930s, the most revolutionary period of Balinese art.
With 400-plus pages of original images and reproductions of drawings and sketches, many never before published, Lempad of Bali is the first truly comprehensive catalogue of the artist’s life and work. Of the estimated 1000 works of art that this multi-faceted genius produced in his lifetime, this mammoth book has reproduced 600 of them, about 90% of Lempad’s total output. The great artist has finally been given his full due!
Recognizing his son’s artistic talent before the age of 10, Lempad’s father Gusti Mayukan, a traditional architect, put his young son to work assisting him on his many building projects. In his teens, Lempad’s family fled their home in Blahbatuh when the father was threatened with exile. The family found political asylum with the royal family of Ubud. The timing was perfect as Puri Ubud was in the process of rebuilding, and their skills were welcomed.
Refined, humble and introverted, Lempad belonged to a class all his own. The great artist lived a long and fruitful life doing not much else but producing a body of work that has been unmatched. Still drawing at 100 years old, his life story reads like a gilded fairy tale. He lived from the age of omnipotent feudal princes to that of astronauts. Gathering his family around him in his final moments, he died a conscious death in 1978 at the age of 117.
Considered one of the first modern Balinese artists, Lempad’s greatest gift was his wild and fertile imagination. Don’t expect in Lempad an Albrecht Durer or M.C. Escher. Starting in the 1920s, Lempad attracted notice for his line drawings that were a futuristic adaptation of figures from the wayang pantheon. Though I couldn’t imagine his repulsive sharped toothed demons, fierce witches with lolling tongues, dragon-headed spirits, tortured souls with trailing intestines, giant roosters with umbrellas and animal-headed babies up on the walls of my home, they nevertheless are mesmerizing to look at. Lempad also created works depicting “happy natives” going about their daily lives - slaughtering pigs, grilling satay, weaving textiles, placing offerings, suckling infants, delousing relatives, carving doors, getting married and working rice fields - which were in high demand by Westerners who had little understanding of religious imagery. read more...
By Bill Dalton
A towering presence in Balinese art, I Gusti Nyoman Lempad (1863-1978) was the greatest Balinese artist of the 20th century. He lived a life of mythical proportions, gaining wide recognition from the local art community as well as from foreign anthropologists, researchers and artists who lived in Bali during the 1920s and 1930s, the most revolutionary period of Balinese art.
With 400-plus pages of original images and reproductions of drawings and sketches, many never before published, Lempad of Bali is the first truly comprehensive catalogue of the artist’s life and work. Of the estimated 1000 works of art that this multi-faceted genius produced in his lifetime, this mammoth book has reproduced 600 of them, about 90% of Lempad’s total output. The great artist has finally been given his full due!
Recognizing his son’s artistic talent before the age of 10, Lempad’s father Gusti Mayukan, a traditional architect, put his young son to work assisting him on his many building projects. In his teens, Lempad’s family fled their home in Blahbatuh when the father was threatened with exile. The family found political asylum with the royal family of Ubud. The timing was perfect as Puri Ubud was in the process of rebuilding, and their skills were welcomed.
Refined, humble and introverted, Lempad belonged to a class all his own. The great artist lived a long and fruitful life doing not much else but producing a body of work that has been unmatched. Still drawing at 100 years old, his life story reads like a gilded fairy tale. He lived from the age of omnipotent feudal princes to that of astronauts. Gathering his family around him in his final moments, he died a conscious death in 1978 at the age of 117.
Considered one of the first modern Balinese artists, Lempad’s greatest gift was his wild and fertile imagination. Don’t expect in Lempad an Albrecht Durer or M.C. Escher. Starting in the 1920s, Lempad attracted notice for his line drawings that were a futuristic adaptation of figures from the wayang pantheon. Though I couldn’t imagine his repulsive sharped toothed demons, fierce witches with lolling tongues, dragon-headed spirits, tortured souls with trailing intestines, giant roosters with umbrellas and animal-headed babies up on the walls of my home, they nevertheless are mesmerizing to look at. Lempad also created works depicting “happy natives” going about their daily lives - slaughtering pigs, grilling satay, weaving textiles, placing offerings, suckling infants, delousing relatives, carving doors, getting married and working rice fields - which were in high demand by Westerners who had little understanding of religious imagery. read more...
Telling Tales
Hildred Geertz on a lavishly produced, groundbreaking study of the great Balinese painter Gusti Nyoman Lempad
Apollo, the international art magazine based in London, published this review of Lempad of Bali in in March 2015.
Bali’s invisible world
made visible – and rapturous
- See more at:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/19/bali-s-invisible-world-made-visible-and-rapturous.html#sthash.yXvbQCUQ.dpuf
Bali’s invisible world
made visible – and rapturous
- See more at:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/19/bali-s-invisible-world-made-visible-and-rapturous.html#sthash.yXvbQCUQ.dpuf
The aptly titled volume illuminates not only the
exquisite lines of Lempad’s artwork, but also the intangible elements of
Balinese identity that those lines represent.
Lempad’s depiction of the moment of birth, for instance, uses simple black ink lines on paper to portray a baby emerging from the womb, but the midwife and the father are not looking at the child.
They are battling the otherworldly creatures that are scrambling to grab the newborn at the precarious moment when the first breath is drawn. The father embraces his wife with one arm while brandishing a knife at the fanged demon that is gnawing at her forehead.
The midwife is holding the infant’s head in her hand as she positions herself to block the advance of another demon with a frog dangling from its toes. Offerings of fruit, flowers and coconuts are positioned directly below the child’s head, providing an element of supernatural protection in this ferocious struggle of life against death.
Bali’s invisible world is made visible in Lempad’s rapturous line drawings. With an astonishing economy of means, he brings to life the sacred and mundane elements of Balinese culture with all their contradictions on display. Read more ..
Lempad’s depiction of the moment of birth, for instance, uses simple black ink lines on paper to portray a baby emerging from the womb, but the midwife and the father are not looking at the child.
They are battling the otherworldly creatures that are scrambling to grab the newborn at the precarious moment when the first breath is drawn. The father embraces his wife with one arm while brandishing a knife at the fanged demon that is gnawing at her forehead.
The midwife is holding the infant’s head in her hand as she positions herself to block the advance of another demon with a frog dangling from its toes. Offerings of fruit, flowers and coconuts are positioned directly below the child’s head, providing an element of supernatural protection in this ferocious struggle of life against death.
Bali’s invisible world is made visible in Lempad’s rapturous line drawings. With an astonishing economy of means, he brings to life the sacred and mundane elements of Balinese culture with all their contradictions on display. Read more ..
Hunt For Lempad Returns Art to Bali
By Sara
Schonhardt
“It’s just tracking step by step, following
the pieces of the puzzle,” said Soemantri Widagdo, the chief curator at Ubud’s Puri Lukisan Museum, host to an
extraordinary exhibition of art by I Gusti Nyoman Lempad, much of which has not
been seen in his birthplace of Ubud on Bali for generations.
It
showcases mostly pre-World War II drawings that made their way overseas in the
hands of art collectors like Margaret Mead, an American cultural
anthropologist, and Gregory Bateson, a British anthropologist and social
scientist. In doing so, it tells the story of a man who reinvented himself late
in life and helped to spread tales about Balinese culture far beyond the
island’s beaches and rice paddies.
The
artist known simply as Lempad was already well respected in Bali as a
renaissance creator-–crossing into architecture, sculpture and cremation
towers-–something known in Bali culture as an undagi. When he began
sketching, he was already in his 60s, and most of his work
was created for Westerners, not a local audience.
Most
of the collection at the museum comes from the archives of the American Museum
of Natural History and the U.S. Library of Congress. A 424-page book of more
than 560 drawings was also produced to coincide with the exhibition and
launched at its opening in late September.read more
Gusti Nyoman Lempad
by Adrian Vickers
The recent collaborative
book, Lempad
of Bali (Singapore: Editions Didier Millet, 2014) is probably the most
important work yet published on a single Balinese artist, and it has been a
great pleasure to be part of it, along with Bruce Carpenter, the late John
Darling, Hedi Hinzler, Kaja McGowan and Soemantri Widagdo.
Gusti Nyoman Lempad was
legendary not only as a radically different artist form the 1930s, but also as
the architect who created Ubud, and for his longevity. While there are
different estimates of his age, at his death in 1978 he was either 116 or 106.
Two other books on Lempad have also come out this year. Although neither of
these has much scholarly weight, they do illustrate the range of work of Lempad
and his school, which mainly consisted of his family.
I was asked by the
instigators of the project, Soemantri Widagdo and Bruce W. Carpenter, to help
out with the captions, in particular with identifying the narratives that
Lempad depicted. This proved to be a lot more than I had originally imagined,
and in the process I met with a more profound set of insights into Balinese
perspectives on life than I had imagined.
While a lot of people are familiar with the fine line and elegant simplicity of Lempad’s work, I only know of one unpublished engagement with his philosophy. This was a 1988 Honours thesis in my department here at the University of Sydney, by Putu Barbara Davies, who had met with Lempad and worked closely with his son, Gusti Made Sumung.
While a lot of people are familiar with the fine line and elegant simplicity of Lempad’s work, I only know of one unpublished engagement with his philosophy. This was a 1988 Honours thesis in my department here at the University of Sydney, by Putu Barbara Davies, who had met with Lempad and worked closely with his son, Gusti Made Sumung.
Gusti Sumung, “the
gatekeeper” as he is called in our book, provided Putu with access to a set of
drawings by his father of the Japatuan story, a tale rarely told in
contemporary Bali, but one which had been important in the past. Japatuan is
about the journey of the eponymous hero and his brother through the afterworld,
in search of the spirit or soul of his deceased wife.
After going through hundreds of Lempad’s works, I could see the common threads in what Putu shows to be his treatment of this work, and his other visual story-telling. Lempad was concerned with gender, with attaining wisdom and power, and with moving between the world of the senses and the world beyond. In his art, the three are combined. read more
LEMPAD OF BALI PUBLISHED
by Pierre Nachbaur
Lempad of Bali: The Illuminating Line, the first catalogue raisonné of the work of internationally acclaimed Balinese artist Gusti Nyoman Lempad (~1862-1978), was recently published to accompany the first retrospective exhibition of his drawings. The exhibition continues at the Museum Puri Lukisan in Ubud, Bali through 24 November.
At 424 pages with more than 500 reproductions of Lempad’s drawings, the large-format book is a groundbreaking work of discovery. Essays by six distinguished scholars of Bali, explore Lempad’s life, work, and death; his sources of inspiration; his drawing style and technique; and the cultural and historical context of Hindu-Buddhist stories, art, and religion related to his work. Relatively few of these Lempad drawings have been published before as much of this work left Bali in the 1930s with the departure of European and American collectors.
“Lempad witnessed Bali’s history over more than 100 years from pre-colonial times to the beginning of mass tourism. Yet his work is still so modern that it carries important lessons about the future of Balinese art and the depth of its roots in the island’s culture,” said Soemantri Widagdo, chief curator at the Puri Lukisan and a co-author of Lempad of Bali.
“Our research was a detective story. We found early drawings that have not been seen in Bali since before World War II. We were able to track down work in museums and private collections all over the world. One knowledgeable person led to another. Library and museum archives and auction records revealed surprises and lost drawings. It was exhilarating to find surviving work across four continents.”
The exhibition and book “brought Lempad back to Bali,” said David Irons, an independent curator who works with the museum. “More than 1000 people were at the opening, including hundreds of artists young and old, who came from all over the island to welcome him home.” Read more ...
At 424 pages with more than 500 reproductions of Lempad’s drawings, the large-format book is a groundbreaking work of discovery. Essays by six distinguished scholars of Bali, explore Lempad’s life, work, and death; his sources of inspiration; his drawing style and technique; and the cultural and historical context of Hindu-Buddhist stories, art, and religion related to his work. Relatively few of these Lempad drawings have been published before as much of this work left Bali in the 1930s with the departure of European and American collectors.
“Lempad witnessed Bali’s history over more than 100 years from pre-colonial times to the beginning of mass tourism. Yet his work is still so modern that it carries important lessons about the future of Balinese art and the depth of its roots in the island’s culture,” said Soemantri Widagdo, chief curator at the Puri Lukisan and a co-author of Lempad of Bali.
“Our research was a detective story. We found early drawings that have not been seen in Bali since before World War II. We were able to track down work in museums and private collections all over the world. One knowledgeable person led to another. Library and museum archives and auction records revealed surprises and lost drawings. It was exhilarating to find surviving work across four continents.”
The exhibition and book “brought Lempad back to Bali,” said David Irons, an independent curator who works with the museum. “More than 1000 people were at the opening, including hundreds of artists young and old, who came from all over the island to welcome him home.” Read more ...
Saturday
20th September saw the launch of yet another major book on legendary
Balinese artist I Gusti Nyoman Lempad, this time penned by six highly regarded
experts on Balinese art and culture. Intrigued, we went along to the
press conference at Puri Lukisan Museum in Ubud.
by
Rio Helmi
After
decades of drought, suddenly it’s raining Lempads. This time the Puri Lukisan
Museum, the original art museum of Ubud started in the early 1950s under the
patronage of Ubud’s royal family of Puri Saren, has published a weighty
tome: Lempad of Bali, the Illuminating Line. There is a special
and unique significance to this sponsorship, as the artist I Gusti Nyoman
Lempad had a very close and special relationship with his royal patrons, the
Tjokordas of Ubud., and also as the Museum Puri Lukisan is closely linked
to the Pita Maha creative art movement of the 30’s of which Lempad was
an important part.
Kicking
off the press conference on Saturday was Tjokorda Putera Sukawati, who pointed
out that prior to this movement there were no “artists” as such in Bali –
creative people worked in their socially defined roles as undagi (a
traditional amalgam of artist, artisan, architect, and cultural conoisseur) and
pragina (traditional dance and theater performer); their work was to
serve the public by using their creativity in temples and palaces. He also
pointed out that Lempad would frequent the palace to listen to readings of
traditional scriptures, and so was steeped in the mythic lore of Bali. Tjokorda
Putera pointed out that the 30s marked the first real intersection with the
outside world for the Balinese.
The
need for, and significance of, a publication of this nature cannot be
understated, as those close to Lempad were imminently aware. As Bruce Carpenter
pointed out, this book had always been one of the great wishes of the late I
Gusti Made Sumung, Lempad’s son, and of the late John Darling, who was
something of a Sumung protegé.
A
few months ago, another large book book, Lempad, was published by
Picture Publishers of the Netherlands. It is to Lempad’s credit that two large
books could be dedicated to his work in such quick succession. Indeed, Lempad
could be said to be the most internationally significant Balinese artist to
date. As curious about it as I was, I put the question to Bruce Carpenter: what
is the substantive difference between Lempad of Bali, the Illuminating Line and
the previous book, Lempad? read more
Lempad
of Bali: The Illuminating Line, with more than 500
Lempad drawings and essays by six scholars of Bali, is available now
Lempad
of Bali: The Illuminating Line, is the first
comprehensive and definitive examination of the life and work of
internationally acclaimed Balinese artist Gusti Nyoman Lempad. Published by
Museum Puri Lukisan in Ubud, Bali in collaboration with Editions Didier Millet
of Singapore, the book launch will take place at the opening of the museum’s
exhibition of Lempad’s drawings on 20 September. The exhibition will run
through 24 November.
“The
idea of this book was born in Lempad’s Ubud home only a few years after his
death in conversations with his son Made Sumung,” said Bruce Carpenter,
co-author and project manager. “Gusti Nyoman Lempad was a co-founder and leader
of the Pita Maha artists collective that revolutionized Balinese
painting in the 1930s, creating modern forms while remaining deeply grounded in
Bali’s Hindu-Buddhist faith and culture.
“Lempad
not only helped conceive the Museum Puri Lukisan with Rudolf Bonnet in the
1930s, he was also co-creator and designer of the finished museum which opened
in 1956. He was a modest titan of Balinese modernism while remaining utterly
traditional in his values.”
At
424 pages with more than 500 reproductions of Lempad’s drawings, the limited
edition, large-format book is a groundbreaking work of discovery. Relatively
few of the total of Lempad’s drawings have been published and most of the early
originals that survive have not been seen publicly since the 1930s when they
left Bali to European and American collections.
Soemantri
Widagdo, chief curator of the museum, principal organizer of the exhibition,
and a co-author of Lempad of Bali, said, “We knew well before 2006, the
museum’s 50th anniversary year, that we must do the Lempad book and
exhibition. But we also knew it would require years of research to find many of
the works that left Bali 75 to 80 years ago in the years before the start of
World War II.
“Our
museum’s mission focuses on preserving the work of the Pita Maha artists and
inspiring the artists who are the heirs of Pita Maha and will create the modern
expression of Bali’s art,” Soemantri said. “Lempad died 36 years ago. Younger
generations need to know his work. This remarkable artist witnessed Bali’s
history over more than 100 years from pre-colonial times to the beginning of
mass tourism. Yet his work is still so modern that it carries important lessons
about the future of Balinese art and the depth of its roots in the island’s
culture.” read more
Pre-World-War-II
work from U.S. and European collections accompanied by release of first
catalogue raisonné of Lempad’s drawings.
Ubud,
Bali, 21 September 2014 – “Illuminating Line: Master Drawings of I Gusti Nyoman
Lempad” opened at the Museum Puri Lukisan in Ubud, Bali, on 20 September. The
exhibition runs until 18 December 2014.
The
exhibition is accompanied by Lempad of Bali: The Illuminating Line, a
424-page catalog, written by six leading international scholars of Balinese
art. The large-format book includes 600 illustrations; 500 of them are
reproductions of Lempad’s drawings and sketches. Many of these have not been
seen publicly since the 1930s and have never been published before.
More
than eight years in preparation, this will be the first retrospective
exhibition and catalogue raisonné of Lempad’s drawings on paper,
which were his principal creative output during the last 50 years of his long
and productive career. For the exhibition, the museum selected 70 works
focusing on those created in the 1930s, most of them borrowed from museum and
private collections in the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, and the United States.
Our
‘Lempad of Bali’ exhibition is a labor of love for the museum,” said Puri
Lukisan Director Tjokorda Bagus Astika. “Gusti Nyoman Lempad spent his entire
working life in Ubud; he was a founding member of the Pita Maha group of
artists that redefined Balinese painting in the 1930s, and he was a co-founder,
co-designer and builder of the Puri Lukisan from 1953 to 1955,” when he was in
his nineties. His murals of farmers sowing and reaping rice and performing
rituals related to its culture are the first works that visitors see at the
entrance to the museum’s first building. read more
