瓦迪

Gifted from the artist to the late Mr. Ali Sadikin
Private Collection, Indonesia

There is evidence of wear and losses along the edges and corners of the work. There is some craquelure at areas of thick impasto and also along the right edge and at the upper right corner of the work. This work would benefit form a light cleaning as there is some dirt on the surface of the painting. Framed.
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The Indonesian landscape has left its imprint on the country’s history, and this is most evident in the paintings dedicated to the greening topography. Wahdi Sumanta was one artist whose paintings revolved around the environment. The works were mostly of Bandung, West Java where the artist was born and grew up. Mountains and beaches were favorite motifs throughout the paintings. The current piece Mountain celebrates the grandeur and organic beauty of the West Java landscape.

 The artist was inspired by the spirit of the environment, finding solace in Mother Nature as a muse. He was close friends with local artists including Hendra Gunawan and Affandi, both very different artists visually, however together they represented the progress of modern art in the country. Wahdi was the quietest individual amongst the group, and his paintings are evident of this character. In the present piece the mountain overwhelms the audience with its magnificent presence, silent as it towers over the lush rice paddies.

He was a spiritual man whose relationship with the country was very much the foundation for his oeuvre. Absent of animals or figures, it is the mountain that fuels the narrative, the trees bathed in a soft afternoon light that further enhances the solitary nature of the painting. Wahdi’s body of works revealed an individual who found a personal connection with the environment, and this connection is expressed eloquently in the present piece.