Akuan and Indonesia's Semarang Painters in the Twentieth Century

More than two hundred artists were recorded in twentieth century Semarang and its environs. They developed a well-coordinated and close community of painters that was somewhat connected to other Central Javanese painters from Solo, Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Ubud in Bali. Their paintings ranged across the broad spectrum of genres which developed in Indonesia at that time, although the majority painted in a natural realism style. Many were fine artists worthy of national recognition.More Description

More than two hundred artists were recorded in twentieth century Semarang and its environs. They developed a well-coordinated and close community of painters that was somewhat connected to other Central Javanese painters from Solo, Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Ubud in Bali. Their paintings ranged across the broad spectrum of genres which developed in Indonesia at that time, although the majority painted in a natural realism style. Many were fine artists worthy of national recognition.

Semarang is the fifth largest city in Indonesia and is the capital of Central Java. As such, in concert with the cities of Solo and Yogyakarta, it forms an important cultural nexus of the most populous province in Indonesia. It is, then, surprising that Semarang painters of the last century were largely ignored by the Indonesian art establishment.

This book highlights 27 Semarang painters, many of whom will be unknown to the modern generation of art lovers in Indonesia. Several threads links many of these artists. First, they all showed great passion for their art. Secondly, many of them painted during periods of their lives when they experienced severe poverty, which eventually either curtailed their painting completely, or caused them to seek other work for long periods of time. Several of those who continued to paint through hard times were able to do so because they were sponsored by collectors, who sometimes dictated both the subject matter and style of their paintings. Factors responsible for the widespread financial hardship experienced by many Semarang artists were lack of support from collectors, gallery owners, exhibition sponsors, informed art critics (most of whom were from the academic institutions in Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta) and the general public.