Lot 411
  • 411

Affandi

Estimate
480,000 - 680,000 HKD
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Description

  • Affandi
  • Palm Trees
  • Signed and dated 1982
  • Oil on canvas

Provenance

Raka Sumichan
Private Collection, Indonesia
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5 October 2015, Lot 470

Condition

This work is in good overall condition as viewed. There is evidence of light wear to the canvas along the edges due to abrasions with the frame. There are very small, brown accretions visible at the unpainted portions of the canvas in the backdrop. Upon very close inspection, some very slight cracking to pigment is visible at areas of very thick impasto, but this is stable and consistent with the age of the work. The paint layers are healthy overall. There are two very minor, pinhole sized holes at canvas only noticeable when viewing the work from the back. Any other inconsistency is part of the artist's working method. Framed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

Most works in Affandi’s prolific oeuvre are inspired by his affinity for his homeland. Affandi’s keen interest in capturing the soulful essence of his country culminated in his travels around the Indonesian archipelago. Drawing inspiration from Indonesia’s rich cultural and geographical diversity, Affandi produced a number of artworks—primarily landscapes—that capture his memories of his journeys and depict the everyday lives of rural Indonesians. The present Lot, Palm Trees, is yet another one of Affandi’s masterful odes to his homeland. Palm trees—a plant native to the tropical climate of Indonesia—are commonly found all across the archipelago, from the Moluccas to the Riau Islands, and symbolizes rest and hospitality in Islamic culture.

 

Palm Trees evinces Affandi’s surrealist and expressionist influences. In eschewing representationalism, Palm Trees reads like a lucid expression of Affandi’s immediate sensory perception of the scene. The brisk and forceful brushstrokes that make up the titular palm trees convey a sense of motion, evoking the presence of a breeze howling about the leaves of the trees. The curved strokes Affandi employs are deliberately hyperbolic, therefore projecting a sense of fluidity and flow. The sun—a recurring motif throughout Affandi’s oeuvre—occupies the right half of the painting. Other than its exaggerated size, the palpitating thick yellow and white lines, intended to convey the rays of the sun, radiate throughout the canvas, as if to convey Affandi’s own experience under the blazing heat of the sun and acknowledgement of its might. Indeed, there is no doubt that the work exudes a palpable sense of energy: from its forceful, irregular brushstrokes to its unapologetic use of bright colors, Palm Trees is undeniably one of Affandi’s most inspired works.

 

Despite Affandi’s reliance on one single color palette in this work, his maturity as an artist is best exemplified in his effusive use of various hues and shades to convey the effect of light and shadow. Buoyant tints of emerald and yellow line the tips of exposed leaves; more somber shades of grey and black underlie the trunks of the trees. Affandi’s ambitious painting technique and aesthetic style have drawn comparisons to influences as diverse as André Masson’s surrealist automatism to Van Gogh’s post-Impressionism. While his travels overseas to Japan and the European art capitals, such as Paris, London, Brussels and Rome, may certainly have facilitated the maturation of his abstract expressionistic style, there is no doubt that Palm Trees remains, at its core, a loving homage to Indonesia’s landscape, authentically mirroring Affandi’s affection for his homeland.