A scintillating, radiantly resplendent work from Ahmad Sadali’s early period, Composition with Orange Background (Lot 1033) displays the rich sensuality and lyricism of the Indonesian maestro’s abstract oeuvre. The present work was exhibited in “Reframing Modernism” organised by the National Gallery of Singapore and the Centre Pompidou, Paris. Masterworks by Southeast Asian artists, such as Ahmad Sadali, were presented alongside treasures from the Centre Pompidou collection by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse and Vassily Kandinsky. Composition with Orange Background belongs to the distinguished private collection of one of the artist’s patrons. Renowned for his technical bravura, Sadali distils the essence of the world around him through works of meditative yet striking nature. The present work evinces the salient qualities of the artist’s rare 1960s works which were created in Indonesia’s post-colonial context and are admired for their rich detail and naturalistic forms.

Veritably one of the leading visionaries in Indonesia, the pioneering graduate of the Institut Teknologi Bandung (Bandung Institute of Technology, ITB) developed his personal idiom by incorporating the cutting-edge concepts he witnessed first-hand as a scholar in America. In 1956-1957, the artist received a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation to study art at various schools, including the prestigious Art Student League in New York, before returning to Indonesia with a fresh approach to his painting.

Executed in 1968, the present work is dominated by one of Sadali’s favoured colors which the artist used in some of his most iconic works. A bright fiery orange paint, applied in varied shades throughout the canvas, commands an alluring sunset glow, while swatches of soft pink and electric turquoise lend moments of respite amidst the luxuriate palette. In the upper half of the composition, Sadali renders turquoise blue lines that weave throughout the field of orange like waves of water or the undulating tiers of paddy fields. At the lower section, the artist casts a rich surface of organic patterns and forms with gold pigment and leaf. This technique, so synonymous with Sadali’s treasured 1960s works, creates a vivacious web of lines and lozenges of colour reminiscent of the batik textiles from Indonesia. These assorted forms rhythmically dance across the composition, pairing the decorative splendour of Indonesian traditional crafts with the gestural sensibility of abstract expressionism.

《橙色背景的構圖》（拍品編號1033）是阿曼德・薩達利的早期作品，光芒閃耀，展現了這位印尼藝術大師抽像作品中感性及抒情的一面。本作曾經亮相新加坡國家美術館及巴黎龐畢度中心聯合舉辦的「重塑現代主義」展覽，該展同場展示薩達利等東南亞藝術家傑作以及巴布羅・畢加索、馬克・夏加爾、亨利・馬蒂斯及瓦西里・康丁斯基等名家的重要作品。 《橙色背景的構圖》出自薩達利其中一位贊助人的私人收藏。薩達利以超卓技巧聞名，通過内省而又引人注目的作品表現身處環境的精髓。藝術家 1960 年代的作品相當罕見，本作屬於該時期的典型。這批作品以印尼的後殖民時期為背景，以其豐富細節和自然主義風格而備受推崇。

薩達利是名副其實的印尼先驅，曾經攻讀萬隆理工大學（ITB），在美國擔任學者時親身接觸各種先進概念，將之融入創作，發展出獨特的個人藝術語言。1956-1957 年間，薩達利獲頒洛克菲勒基金會獎學金，在美國多所學院修習藝術，包括著名的紐約藝術學生聯盟。他其後返回印尼，以全新風格創作。

本作完成於 1968 年，以薩達利深愛的色調為主，他多件標誌性作品均以此組顔色入畫。畫面以各種鮮橙色彩營造出如日落迷人的光芒，柔和的粉紅色和如電的綠松石色則在奢華的主色之間保留喘息的空間。薩達利在畫面的上半部份渲染出綠松石藍色的線條，穿越大片的橙色，像波浪升降、也像稻田起伏。畫面的下半部以金色顏料和金箔構成豐富的有機圖案和形式。這種技巧是薩達利 1960 年代作品的經典手法，以彩色綫條及菱形織成充滿活力的繩網，讓人想起印尼的蠟染紡織品。這些各具姿采的形式在畫面上有節奏地舞動，將印尼傳統工藝的裝飾藝術光華與抽象表現主義的姿態感結合為一。