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| JERO DALANG DIAH |
The practice of painting on glass painting originated in the Netherlands in the 14th century from where it spread throughout Europe to Iran. By the 19th century it had emerged in Java, particularly in the courts of Cirebon, Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Demak and Madura, as well as Bengkulu, Palembang, Medan and Aceh in Sumatera. At that time, glass was expensive and glass paintings, most of which depicted scenes from the Qur'an, were luxury items reserved for the wealthy. Nowadays, however, collectors are hesitant to buy glass paintings for their fragility, and the tradition of painting on glass has been almost forgotten in art history.
Glass Painting In Bali
The Balinese tradition of glass painting, which combines Chinese, Arabic and local wayang (shadow puppet) scenes, was established in the 1920s, and has survived the worldwide decline in the popularity of the art. One of the main centers of glass painting in Bali is the village of Nagasepaha, 7kms east of Singaraja. When I interviewed one of the village's most prominent painters, Ketut Negara, also known by his dalang (puppeeer ing) name, Jro Dalang Diah, he was sitting in a corner of his house, dressed in traditional clothes. Hanging from the wall behind him were a number of wayang which he had made himself. In fact, as he recounted, he had made and sold many in his lifetime. These ones, however, were sacred and were not for sale.
In 1927, a wayang collector visited Jro Dalang Diah, and brought with him a glass painting from Japan depicting a woman wearing a kimono. The collector was eager to obtain a glass painting of a wayang, and asked Diah to make him one. Thereupon, Jro Dalang Diah's curiosity was piqued, and he began to seriously look into glass painting, learning the technique of painting in reverse ' (for the painting is viewed from the unpainted ed side), and becoming increasingly productive as he progressed.
By the 1980s, Jro Dalang had developed two different styles. Although he had begun I his career painting scenes from the Balinese wayang, in 1950, when he received an order I for a wayang glass painting, it was ot the Balinese but the West Javanese Sukaraya or the Jelekong style that he chose to use. Jro Dalang's pulils followed suit and began painting in both the Balinese and West Javanese styles.
The Nagasepaha Project
When they stumbled upon the glass paintings of Nagasepaha, a group of teachers from the Singaraja school of Teacher Training and Education's Art Department took it upon themselves to initiate a research project into the art of Jro Dalang and his pupils. When they commenced in 1992, the teachers were interested in exploring the history of glass panting in Nagasepaha, with a view to preserving the art and preventing its commercialisation. One of the aspects under study in the project is the process of apprenticeship, by which Balinese artists commonly learn their craft. In Ubud, for example, children are placed as apprentices with successful local painters. This is usually an economic rather than an artistic consideration on the part of the child's parents, for as apprentices the children are expected to contribute to family finances through the sale of their works. Painting teachers who take on apprentices often old prestigious positions within the traditional bureaucracies. In Nagasepaha, painting as a craft tended to be passed down the family line. Jro Dalang Diah, for example, conscious of the nees to pass on his art of making wayang to younger generations, taught it to his children and grand children. And once they had mastered the art of making wayang, he taught them how to paint wayang scenes on glass.
Beyond Jro Dalang's immediate family, how ever, many others have also come to him, curious and eager to learn the art of glass painting. In Nagasepaha too, 27 therefore, the traditional education system is becoming inceasingly like Ubud i.e: based around apprenticeships.
As well as documenting the history of glass painting in Nagasepaha, the researchers from Singaraja have also had an active role in educating local painters about aesthetics. In particular, they have encouraged the painters of Nagasepaha to paint scenes in the very decorative Singaraja style. This kind of action research is reminiscent of that undertaken by Rudolf Bonnet in Ubud in the 50s. Bonnet arrived in Bali in 1929 and on settling in Ubud was alarmed at the rapid rate with which the Balinese were being robbed of their artistic heritage due to the concomitant removal of bodies of local art being removed to other, mainly colonising, countries, and the commercialization of traditional handcrafts. In the 1950s, Bonnet solicited the assistance of the then Prince of Ubud, Tjokorde Gede Agung Sukawati, and founded the Pita Maha - an association for artist in the Ubud area with a view to countering the abovementioned trends. Every Saturday, the association held meetings to which local artist would bring their works and discuss composition, technique and anatomy with Bonnet, who quickly become recognized by the local community of artists as a guru. Even today,
As well as documenting the history of glass painting in Nagasepaha, the researchers from Singaraja have also have an active role in educating local painters about aesthetics, In particular, the painters of Nagasepaha to pain scenes in the very decorative Singaraja style.
Bonnet continues to be accorded that honor by many senior artists who were involved in their youth in the Pita Maha, and who claim to have leant technique and to have gained marketing tips from Bonnet.
Following Bonnet
Dutch historian Wim Bakker has compared the work of the researchers in Nagasepaha ith that of Bonnet with the artists in Ubud. He concluded that both are based upon a genuine willingness to protect local artistic traditions while helping them develop an awareness of contemporary aesthetics. But there are also important differences in Bonnet's role in the Ubud art community during the fifties and that of the Singaraja art teachers in today's Nagasepaha. In his efforts to play a part in the development of the local art scene, Bonnet received strong support from the Ubud palace, thus affording him a politically powerful social network and aiding, among other things, the establishment of a museum which served as a venue to show case and, by extension, to market, local art. Today's researchers in Nagasepaha have not been blessed with royal patronage, and are more strictly bound to and influenced by the official bureaucracy and its education system.
According to one of the researchers in Nagasepaha, Hardiman, one of the main aims of the Nagasepaha project is to establish a "space for local painters to run their own exhibitions and from which they can market their work This would help them develop independent of commercial galleries and art dealers. As well as providing them with skills and knowledge necessary for them to build as sustainable glass painting industry, we would also like to build some kind of studio space for local painters." admirable aims indeed, but before they start working towards achieving them, the researchers await the go-ahead from the various local and national institutions responsible for processing their proposal. Whilst the findings of the project thus far indeed beg further exploration, the researchers would do | well to be aware of the dangers of such enquiries and educative projects, that they can work to the detriment of Nagasepaha locals by transforming the village into a living museum and its people into 'tourist objects'.
The first glass paintings were found in Java where this form of art was probably introduced by the Dutch in the 19th century. Historically glass paintings were invented in the 14th century in The Netherlands and spread through out Europe to Iran in the following centuries. In Java the glass paintings were developed in the courts of Cirebon, Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Demak and Madura. Even in Sumatra it was developed in Bengkulu area, Palembang, Medan and Aceh. As glass was in those time an exclusive material, it was a commodity for the wealthy to place an order for glass paintings with scenes from the Qur'an and calligraphy. Due to the durability of material the color paint stays fresh on the surface, which gives the painting an extra dimension to the scenes and longer survival of existence unless the painting is broken in many pieces.
This is one of the reasons art collectors hesitate to purchase glass paintings and the other is that the tradition of painting on glass almost extinct in art history.
Between 1940s and 1970s the glass paintings were declining in popularity and this kind of art was almost forgotten in history. Except Bali that is rich of many art forms and especially painting developments, the glass painting seems to be developed since 1927. Although in the Balinese glass painting the Chinese and Arabic influences have mingled with the scenes from Hindu religion shadow puppet themes. In 1992 a group of teachers from Department Art of the Singaraja School of Teachers Training and Education decided to start a research into a artists family in the village Nagasepaha, 7 km to the east of the city Singaraja. This intensive research will take years in observing and educating the local artists in their creation of glass paintings and most important of all how to preserve this art in avoiding to become a commercial commodity.
When visiting the village one must walk almost 1,5 km from the road to reach the first house compound in Nagasepaha. The main prominent artist who started to paint on glass is Ketut Negara, also known as Jro Dalang Diah, whose age is still guessing, but one must confessed that his health condition is quite remarkable when his family members explain' that he was born in 1909. Jro Dalang Diah, wayang puppets master himself, sits quietly in the corner in traditional clothes surrounded by his leather puppets hanging on the wall above his head. "These are my puppet on leather material, which I made them myself", says Jro Dalang, "I made many of them, but alas, also many of them have I sold". But those ones above his head are not for sale, cause those have sacred meanings.
During his days in 1927 as puppet master Jro Dalang Diah was visited by a leather puppet collector, who brought with him a glass painting from Japan, depicting a woman dressed in kimono. The collector was determined to collect a glass painting depicting a scene from the Wayang stories and ask Jro Dalang to make him one painting on glass. Out of curiosity Jro Dalang started to study the glass painting seriously and found out that painting on glass should be done in reverse, cause the picture will be viewed from the unpainted side. This technical exploration leads him to producing more paintings on glass. When in 1950 an order was placed for a scene from Wayang stories with scenery background, he used Sukaraja or Jelekong (West Java) style. These two deferent styles emerge not only in Jro Dalang Diah's paintings, but also in the paintings of his descendants, who were taught by Jro Dalang himself. When the glass paintings with two styles came upon public, local teachers from Department Art in Singaraja decided to start a research in the challenge to educate aesthetic approach in painting to Jro Dalang Diah and of his descendants.
In 1992 the research was initiated to uncover the historical aspects and the existence of glass painting in this particular village Nagasepaha. One of the aspects is apprenticeship, which is quite common in Balinese education system. In the Ubud area, painters are everywhere and they are the neighbor, brother or uncle of a painter Usually children are placed as apprentices with family or local painter who has been successful in selling his works. This announces the choice of painting as a future profession, either full-time or for the duration of schooling, which the sale of works may be expected to finance the family.
The Guru is often a member of one the Balinese social networks, such as the neighborhood association. In Nagasepaha, education in painting was more a family tradition, which is necessary to be preserved. Jro Dalang Diah, whose background is wayang puppet master and used to create the leather puppet by himself, intended to maintain the tradition in the family by teaching his children and grandchildren the art of creating wayang leather puppets. First they had to make wayang puppet heads to be followed by designing and cutting the wayang figures in leather. After a while when they have mastered the making of leather puppets, then Jro Dalang would teach them how to paint wayang scenes on glass.
As the village is located in a remote area and there is constantly contact between the Jro Dalang's family and other villagers, some young children came to Jro Dalang out of curiosity and enthusiasm to learn the art of glass paintings. This made Jro Dalang becoming the local guru and the education system becoming like in Ubud area such as apprenticeship. Meanwhile the researchers from the Singaraja School for Teacher Training and covered the application of decorative setting, which is usually used for traditional wayang paintings in the Singaraja area. This action research based on immediate contact with the painters could be questioned for its motivation. Historically this kind of teaching encounter has been done before in Ubud area, where the Dutch painter Rudolf Bonnet (1895-1978) came to Bali in 1929 and left his own marks in the Balinese art community. As an artist he played an important role in the art development, as he could not sit back and watch the rapid growing handicraft business, which produced mass artworks, took all benefits of Balinese locals.
His role started in the consciousness that Balinese art became commercial resulted in disappearing of many artworks to foreign countries. This was the time act, thank to his close friendship with Tjokorda Cede Agung Sukawati (then Prince of Ubud, 1910-1978) Bonnet set up an association for artists in Ubud area, called Pita Maha, in those time still a remote village like Nagasepaha. The association held their gatherings on Saturday when all members showed their works to be classified and with Bonnet they discussed the composition, techniques and anatomy. Here Bonnet marked his existence in the Balinese artist community as their 'guru'. Even until today, Bonnet has been accepted by many senior artists who joined the Pita Maha association as their 'teacher' from whom they received the knowledge of painting techniques and particular in art sale through
exhibitions.
One of the prominent historical writers from the Netherlands, Wim Bakker who visited the village, made the comparison between motivation and findings of the researchers today and actions of Rudolf Bonnet in the past. Both motivations Are based upon authentically anxiety and willing to protect while guiding the development of art according to the contemporary aesthetic conditions at that time. The differences between those mainstreams is that in Bonnets period he had the back up of the Ubud palace, which was very respected by the community. Due this fact he could play in higher society and political network by realizing a museum for traditional Balinese arts while providing local artists income as results of exhibitions. Today in Singaraja the researchers are more and less bound to the administrative regulations of academic system, which could be of great influence in their research development.
When asking one of the researchers, Hardiman, about his main aim to finishing the study, he answers "There should be a place like a studio available where the local painter are able to manage their own exhibitions and sale without being disadvantaged by commercial galleries or art dealers. We would like to built this place and provide them knowledge how to manage their own unique glass paintings". But before the research could be continued they need all the support from local governmental institution as well as the educational institutions local and in Jakarta. Though the research bears the academic fruits for future study, the researchers should take a serious note in their findings of data control and other effects to the village such as creating a living museum where the inhabitants could suffer from becoming tourist objects.
Text by Bali Echo Magazine
Photos courtesy of ilsegretodibali
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