Art and cultures

Importance of Art in Bali .

Bali’s arts and handicrafts provide :

1. an important source of interest and attraction to tourists because they are an expression of Bali’s culture and environment and provide a stimulating aesthetic experience.
2. a major source of income to Bali and Indonesia through both direct sale to domestic and foreign tourists and direct export to other countries.
3. perhaps most important , they offer a means for Balinese to express their own feelings toward their culture richness and beautiful landscapes and are a source of  pride and recognition for artistic accomplishment.

Many People claim that Bali’s art have become commercialized and generated by tourism. However, objective examination of the situation would seem  to indicate that high quality items, especially pf paintings and wood carvings, are being produced in greater amount and variety  than ever before, in part, resulting from the demand of tourists who can afford to pay the higher cost of high quality items. Also being produced for production obviously is commercial .But the majority of tourists can only afford the lower prices of these “mass-produced” items and do buy them in large quantities which provides income for many Balinese artisans, shop owner and the others.

            In previous time, the kings and royal personages were the patrons of the arts with much of the art being created for religious purposes. Now, this function has been replaced somewhat by tourism as well as by government and few wealthy personals in Indonesia and abroad.

            There are many forms of art and handicrafts in Bali which need to be understood and explained to tourists. These include various styles of  paintings, wood and stone carvings, masks and puppets, baskets and other woven palm leaf items, hand woven cloth, silver and gold objects, bone horn and ivory carvings, ceramics, lontar books, krisses and a limited amount of batik but that is a recently developed activity and most batik sold in Bali comes from Java. Related to Bali’s art and handicrafts are porcelain of Chinese and other Asian origin and design , both imported antiques and modern reproductions and furniture, both antique including Dutch made and modern.

Sources of Information about Art in Bali

Tourists often want to know the history of arts and handicrafts, the characteristics of  various styles, functional uses where pertinent, materials and techniques used, training of artists, names and brief histories of well know artists and other information. Also important is informing tourists of places to view arts and handicrafts and their production and where to buy items. Tour guides should be familiar with the art and cultural museums in Bali and where good examples of arts and handicrafts are maintained and identified.

            The Archeological Museum has pre-historic artifacts including several sarcophagi and other items and some early Hindu statues. The Bali museum is a cultural museum with a wide variety of art, handicraft and cultural artifacts with some explanations of cultural traditions and traditional lifestyles. The Art Center contains a variety of arts and handicrafts but especially paintings and wood carvings as well as dance and music training and performing areas. Puri Lukisan contains paintings and woodcarvings, especially of the period since the 1930’s. Also, special exhibits are often held in the larger hotels. The government operated  commercial enterprise, Sanggraha Kriya Asta or government handicraft center offers a wide selection of paintings, woodcarving, fabrics and other item. And the better quality of private art galleries have on display a variety of good quality arts and can perform a similar function to museum in informing tourists.

            Tour guides may wish to pursue further their knowledge of Bali’s arts and can do so by additional reading of the books indicated in the reading reference lists. Also, some tourists may ask for reading references on Bali’s art and they can be referred to these references.

Traditional Role and Concept of Art

 Until about 1930, Bali’s artistic creativity served mostly function of magic, religion and historical event, it gave visible form to myths , legends, historical incidents and religious beliefs and was particularly related to ceremonial activities. Art usually was not created for the sake of art but rather to serve other purposes. Nor was there the Western (or modern Balinese) concept of individual artistic expression or a separate class of artists.

            There were no words in the Balinese language for “art” and “artist” (the words used now by Balinese are from Bahasa Indonesia, not Bahasa Bali). A sculptor was a carver and a painter was a picture-maker. Artists did not sign their work which was always anonymous. Traditionally, art was an expression of collective thought and one piece of art might be done by several persons all sharing the effort. Also, there was not the concept of public criticism of works of art although this would undoubtedly b done privately. This attitude toward art has mostly changed during the last 50 years and now individual artistic expression, individual styles. Pride in one’s artistry with work being signed, one man exhibits being held and public critiquing of artistic works are characteristic of most artists in Bali, especially painters and wood carvers, but still not the artists embellishment of temples and other buildings which is done in the traditional manner.

DEVELOPMENT OF BALINESE HINDU ART

From the early 16^th century on, after the spread of Islam in Java, Bali’s culture including its art developed separately. The Javanese heritage was especially intensified in royal cities where old Javanese literature, music , dancing and art forms flourished. Kawi , the classical and scholarly language of Bali, is closely related to the old Javanese . Outside the cities, old Indonesian pre- Hindu elements combined with Hinduistic features  of pre-Javanese times were more dominant.

            Over the centuries of the Balinese Hindu period, the various artistic influences became integrated and evolved into a distinctive Balinese culture and art reflecting  in large part the character of Balinese people. In art, this was expressed in highly ornate, ornamental, exuberant and sometimes colorful art styles with imaginative characters of demons, witches and other fantastic figures and playful naturalistic life style scenes represented in addition to the classical Javanese derived Hindu character and forms. These two types of representations would often exist in the same place although, of course conveying different meaning to the Balinese.

            Before modern influence and development , Bali’s art was applied mostly in the form of carving in Pura (temples) and Puri (palaces). In the temple, the gate, walls and the bases of shrines were highly decorated with stones carving done in relief and with statues, mostly of religious and mythological figures although some were secular as indicated above. Because of softness and relatively rapid erosion of this sandstone (paras) in the humid tropical climate, the carvings required constant renewal. This continuous need for new carving maintained the skill of carving and also provided opportunity to try new design motifs. The palaces were  as lavishly decorated with relief  carvings, statues and paintings as the temples. Also ,in some houses of high caste Balinese, the pillars and beams of pavilions were carved , painted and gilded.

            Related to stone carvings were wood carvings of winged lions, garudas and other figures, some of which were used in building “images” of gods and ancestor kept in the temples shrines. These wood carvings were painted in various colors.

            Painting in cloth, first bark cloth and later cotton , done in the Wayang style of flat two dimensional figure with no perspective probably developed by the 13^th century.. This is what is now called  the classical style of painting in Bali.

            Later the Kamasan type of classical style developed. There is evidence that the Kamasan style started in the early 17^th century when the Dalem Klungkung ordered an artist named Sangging to make a wayang painting. Sangging’s style was well received and started the Kamasan style named after a village near Klungkung where this style is still produced.

            Kamasan paintings were done mostly in few definite form :

These paintings mostly depict a mythological theme showing, in stylized narrative form, stories from Ramayana , Mahabharata, Calon  Arang story. Malat (panji) stories and Balinese legends.Also,folk scenes treated in simple realistic manner were painted, such as on the pictorial Balinese calendars. On the ider-ider, the story was depicted scene by scene, each separated by a flame, tree or mountain motif. Separate scenes, to read along divide areas , were also shown on the parba, langse and ceiling hangings. One of the most interesting example of this style, although in rather specialized form, are the ceiling paintings at Kerta Gosa ( Hall of Justice ) in Klunhgkung. Although recently repainted, they represent the classical Kamasan style.

            The Classical style of painting used locally made paints with five basic colors of black, white, Chinese red, blue and yellow with brown and green made by mixing other colors. Paints were made from powered pig bone, soot minerals and vegetable dyes mixed with a fish gelatin glue called ancur. These paintings are basically colored drawings with lines drawn first and then colored in.

            The illustration of palm leaf book , lontar, was a  special branch of art . The lontar were often illustrated with Wayang style scenes, the engraving being done with iron pens and the engraved lines blackened with a mixture of  soot and oil.

            Shadow play puppets, Wayang Kulit were also a special form of art. The puppet figures are similar to those of Java except more naturalistic and less stylized and elongated than Javanese. The figures are cut out from buffalo leather with special iron dies and the painted and sticks attached for manipulation of movement.

            The working of gold and silver, carving of mask, making of elaborately carved krises and weaving of cloth were also developed to a high level during the Balinese Hindu period. Ceramics were made in Bali but were never artistically developed to a high degree, they served only functional uses as containers and carriers for temple offerings.

            Another specialized type of art in Bali, which has a long tradition and includes pre-Hindu element, is the rich and imaginative “temporary art”. This includes ornamentation of cremation towers, animal-shaped sarcophagi for corpses, artistically arranged temple offerings of fruit, rice cake and other items and cut and woven palm leaf figures used for ritualistic purposes.

            A very common palm leaf creation is cili or rice goddess, derived from the goddess of earth and fertility and the Rice Mother of pre-historic time or in Hindu terms, the goddess Shri. The cili is an elongated figure of a girl with round breasts, thin long arms, big earrings and a large headdress. It is made three month after the planting of rice  when the rice is “pregnant”. This figure is also made from wood , Chinese coins sewn together and clay.

            Another common woven  palm leaf item is Lamak , a long rectangular panel suspended from the front edge of shrines on festive days. Central lamak

 Design most frequently seen are the tree of life and cili figure. Bamboo pole suspend palm leaf  design called Penjors are seen along village streets throughout  Bali on important festival day. The Penjor design is different in each village.

            In summary, after the fall of the Majapahit Kingdom in the early 16^th century, Bali’s political administration and culture including religion and art developed separately and independently and acquired its own distinctive characteristics. Art In Bali developed a more exuberant, ornate , fanciful and decorative from with more naturalistic element than Hindu arts in India or Historic Java. Bali’s Hindu culture and art  was also somewhat influenced by and contains elements of pre-historic cultures.

            The application of art was greatest in stones and wood carvings on temples, palaces and high caste houses and took the form of both relief carving and statues. Also important and highly developed was painting  on cloth in the classical, including Kamasan or Wayang style. In addition , other well developed art forms included lontar book illustrations, making of Wayang Kulit puppets, gold and silver working , carving of masks, cloth weaving and kris making. Bali’s rich “temporary art”  forms were also highly developed during the Balinese Hindu period. These include cremation tower and sarcophagi. Temples offerings and woven palm leaf items ,especially the cili figure, lamak and penyor.

            Starting some 50 years ago, in about 1930 and continuing to the present, Bali’s art underwent a rapid change, especially in the development of new styles of painting and wood carving. However , it is important to understand that the new styles did not replace previously existing styles but, rather, supplemented then and so further enriched Bali’s art. Balinese-Hindu art still flourishes, especially in its relation to religion and mythology, alongside the recently developed elements.