阿凡迪

Acquired directly from the artist
Private Collection, USA

Washington, DC, USA, International Monetary Fund Atrium, Affandi in America, 11 September-19 October 1990
Washington, DC, USA, Indonesian Festival, Affandi in America, 1990-1991

The work is in overall good condition. The paint layer impastos are intact and the colors are bright. Upon very close inspection there is a tiny chip located in the left watermelon in the white paint. However this is due to the thick impastos, and does not effect the quality of the piece. Under ultraviolet light there are no signs of retouching. Framed.
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“Looking at his works, one immediately feels the unity and harmony which pervade them…Their strength comes from the broad gestural [strokes], from a kind of duel against the canvas, duel which must consist of rapid movements, now carried out with the brush, now merely with the hand, now—and more often—with the tube itself, in order that the inspiration may not stop even for a short moment, making therefore impossible any correction whatsoever. For him, only the direct and prompt inspiration is bound to grasp and transmit the deep and throbbing emotion.”

Flavio de Aquino cited in Affandi: Exposição Retrospectiva 1940-1966, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paolo, Exhibition Catalogue, 1966

Affandi is celebrated as one of the founding fathers of modern art in Indonesia. An advocate for Social Realism and a self-taught artist, his paintings focused on the everyday happenings that took place in the country, for he believed that the essence of humanity could be found within the lives of the laymen and their stories. The painting New England Shore Dinner is a special piece from his oeuvre. The work can be seen as a still life painting per se, with the food a symbolic representation of American daily life. Affandi was regarded as Indonesia's Van Gogh, and works such as the present piece are evident of the artist’s passionate depictions of the ordinary lives of the Everyman. As seen through the energetic brushstrokes and attention to color, Affandi’s solidarity with his peers, and desire to portray their lives honestly, has garnered his paintings with a special kind of energy.