S. Sudjojono

Amir Sidharta, S. Sudjojono: Visible Soul, Museum S. Sudjojono, Jarkarta, Indonesia, 2006, P.  338

This work is in good overall condition as viewed, and the paint layers are healthy overall. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals few very minor spots of restoration along the bottom edge of the work. Framed.
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Sudjojono’s oeuvre provides important insight into the cultural and artistic maturity of Indonesia after the country won its independence from the Dutch colonialists. The artist was a socio-realist painter who was actively involved in his country’s fight for sovereignty, and embraced painting as a tool to communicate his patriotic ideologies to a greater audience. Unlike the European artists whose foreign aesthetics redefined Indonesia into beautified portraits of the landscape and people, Sudjojono actively pursued a different style in his paintings. The topography and local culture were equally important to him; however he wished to show his country in a realistic and authentic manner.

Together with rural-inspired subject matters, the artist also enjoyed painting still life works. Though it may be seen as curiously opposing to the traditional nationalistic motifs prevalent in his oeuvre, Sudjojono’s still life paintings remained faithful to his principles of having painting interact personally with the public. The present piece entitled Pandan's Wedding Bouquet is one such example of his rendition of the still life genre. Though he did not subscribe to the European aesthetics of painting the “other” in romanticized settings, Sudjojono did appropriate the Western still life genre into his own works. Pandan's Wedding Bouquet perfectly exemplify this cultural reciprocity, for Sudjojono is applying the nature morte ideology into an Indonesian context.

The artist was known to gift paintings to his friends, and would write intimate messages on the canvases to personalize each work for the receiver. On the present painting there is an inscription written in Bahasa: Pandan/ Terimalah restu mama dan bapak juga/ Beranilah! Salam!/ Kapol, Cikini/ 21 April 1983/ S. Sudjojono (Pandan/ Receive the blessing of mother and father also/ Dare! Greetings!/ Kapol, Cikini/ 21 April 1983/ S. Sudjojono.

While the present work may appear as a gentler piece from the artist’s body of works, compared with the politicized paintings that he is well-known for, Pandan's Wedding Bouquet contains all the artist’s favored themes that he frequently returned to throughout his career. Not every nationalistic painting needs to be grandiose in content, for there is a certain strength that exists in works that choose quieter metaphors to convey the message to the discerning viewers. The present painting adheres to this philosophy. By using flowers to represent his respect for his country, Sudjojono ultimately shows his understanding of the universal power of expressing compassion with simplicity and grace.