john.robert_mcpherson
21 Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC visiting an artist's residence, Iseh, Bali, Indonesia. September 1977
21 Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC visiting an artist's residence, Iseh, Bali, Indonesia. September 1977.
We visited a famous artist's residence at Iseh. I fail to recall his name. Not that it mattered, as the Western artists resident in Bali shared houses or occupied them serially. It is likely that most of the 20th Century Western artists lived in this house at some point. There was little art to be seen and the few carvings on display were common enough in Australian gardens. The house and grounds disappointed me as things seemed so predictable -- but perhaps my youthful judgment was too harsh. I may have failed to note that the pieces were the originals on which the designs of millions of bland garden ornaments were later based.
Bali -- the concept rather than the island -- is at least in part a Western invention. The European and Mexican artists who flocked there after the Dutch East India Company subdued the local rajas in the first decade of the 20th Century found a unique, rich culture and set about interpreting it. This interpretation influenced Balinese art and music, which of course only confirmed the artists' own interpretation of Bali as an earthly paradise as correct.
Foremost among the Western artists were men like the German Walter Spies and the Swiss Theo Meier. These were people of the generation shattered by the Great War, people who sought innocence and tranquility away from the wreck and ravages of Europe. They were Gauguins of the 20th Century seeking Rousseauian Noble Savages. Their art cemented Bali in the Western mind as just such a place and began the influx of Western tourists. The view was erroneous, conveniently overlooking the often-turbulent history and social inequality of Bali.
The artists might be called 'Orientalists' by critics today and accused of ascribing other than normal human motives and values to 'exotic', 'innocent' natives in a manner that was at once fantastical and patronizing. Of course the critics who make the accusations are absolutely free of any blemish, bias or folly themselves, which eminently equips them to criticize.
21 Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC visiting an artist's residence, Iseh, Bali, Indonesia. September 1977
21 Palm Beach (Qld) SLSC visiting an artist's residence, Iseh, Bali, Indonesia. September 1977.
We visited a famous artist's residence at Iseh. I fail to recall his name. Not that it mattered, as the Western artists resident in Bali shared houses or occupied them serially. It is likely that most of the 20th Century Western artists lived in this house at some point. There was little art to be seen and the few carvings on display were common enough in Australian gardens. The house and grounds disappointed me as things seemed so predictable -- but perhaps my youthful judgment was too harsh. I may have failed to note that the pieces were the originals on which the designs of millions of bland garden ornaments were later based.
Bali -- the concept rather than the island -- is at least in part a Western invention. The European and Mexican artists who flocked there after the Dutch East India Company subdued the local rajas in the first decade of the 20th Century found a unique, rich culture and set about interpreting it. This interpretation influenced Balinese art and music, which of course only confirmed the artists' own interpretation of Bali as an earthly paradise as correct.
Foremost among the Western artists were men like the German Walter Spies and the Swiss Theo Meier. These were people of the generation shattered by the Great War, people who sought innocence and tranquility away from the wreck and ravages of Europe. They were Gauguins of the 20th Century seeking Rousseauian Noble Savages. Their art cemented Bali in the Western mind as just such a place and began the influx of Western tourists. The view was erroneous, conveniently overlooking the often-turbulent history and social inequality of Bali.
The artists might be called 'Orientalists' by critics today and accused of ascribing other than normal human motives and values to 'exotic', 'innocent' natives in a manner that was at once fantastical and patronizing. Of course the critics who make the accusations are absolutely free of any blemish, bias or folly themselves, which eminently equips them to criticize.