History - Bali and Lombok - page 14

encouragement, and unleashed what was clearly a strong natural talent.
An engaging new 'naive' style developed, as typically Balinese rural scenes
were painted in brilliant technicolour.
The style is today one of the staples of Balinese tourist art. It is also
known as work by 'peasant painters'. I Nyoman Cakra still lives in Penes-
tanan, still paints, and cheerfully admits that he owes it all to Smit. Other
'young artists' include I Ketut Tagen, I Nyoman Tjarka and I Nyoman
Mujung.

BALI ARTS & CRAFTS

0 16 km

0 10 miles

A B C D

Singaraja Jagaraga

B A L I S E A 6

Bondalem

21

Penuktukan

1

Gitgit

Seririt

Tianyar

Danau
Buyan

Danau
Tamblingan

Mayong

Danau

OTHER STYLES
There are some other variants to the main Ubud and Young Artists' paint-
ing styles. The depiction of forests, flowers, butterflies, birds and other
naturalistic themes,for example, sometimes called Pengosekan style, became
popular in the 1960s, but can probably be traced back to Henri Rousseau,
who was a significant influence on Walter Spies. An interesting development
in this particular style is the depiction of underwater scenes, with colourful
fish, coral gardens and sea creatures. Somewhere between the Pengosekan
and Ubud styles are the miniature landscape paintings that are popular
commercially.
The new techniques also resulted in radically new versions of Rangda,
Barong, Hanuman and other figures from Balinese and Hindu mythology.
Scenes from folk tales and stories appeared, featuring dancers, nymphs and
love stories, with an understated erotic appeal.
A growing number of Balinese artists receive formal art training. Others
are influenced by artists who visit Bali. For details on Murni, an important
female painter in Ubud who died in 2006, see p180. Or, to learn about how
a prominent painter from outside Bali has been influenced by the island,
see the boxed text, p122.

Batur

Danau
Bratan

Candikuning

Pupuan

Pacung

Batungsel Culik

11

2

20

Blimbing

Murni (Gusti Kadek
Murniasih) was one of
Bali's most innovative
contemporary artists
before her death in 2006.
She overcame a brutal
childhood and went on
to win praise for her
taboo-breaking work.
For more, see the boxed
text, p180 .

23

Payangan

8

24 Amlapura

1

22 25

27

5

Antosari

Ubud

26

13

10

Padangbai

Tabanan

4

14

18

15

7 12

17

2

19

3 9

3

Selat
Lombok

Selat

I N D I A N O C E A N

16

Badung 28

Nusa
Lembongan

DENPASAR

Indicates Arts & Crafts Locations Indicates Arts & Crafts Locations

Jungutbatu Toyapakeh Sampalan

Legian Sanur

Bangli - Coconut & Bone Carving, Gianyar - Weaving........................... 10 C3 Pujung - Woodcarving...................... 20 B2

Crafts
Bali is a showroom for all of the crafts of Indonesia. A typical, better tourist
shop will sell puppets and batiks from Java, ikat (cloth whose individual
threads are dyed before weaving) garments from Sumba, Sumbawa and
Flores, and textiles and woodcarvings from Bali, Lombok and Kalimantan.
The kris, so important in a Balinese family, will often have been made in
Java, which any Balinese will tell you is the place for a kris.
On Lombok, where there's never been much money, traditional handi-
crafts are practical items, skilfully made and beautifully finished. The finer
examples of Lombok weaving, basketware and pottery are highly valued by
collectors. Some traditional crafts have developed into small-scale industries
and villages now specialise in them: textiles from Sukarara, batik paintings
from Sade and Rembitan, and pottery from Penujak. Shops in Ampenan,
Cakranegara and Senggigi have a good range of Lombok's finest arts and
crafts, as do the local markets.

Kuta

Silverwork...................................... 1 C2 Jati - Woodcarving........................... 11 C2 Sawan - Gamelan Instruments.......... 21 B1

Batuan - Basketware & Painting.......... 2 B3 Kamasan - Classical Painting Sideman - Weaving.......................... 22 C2

Batubulan - Stonecarving & Furniture.. 3 B3 & Silver Work...............................

Benoa

12 C3 Tampaksiring - Coconut &

Bedulu - Painting (Classical Kerambitan - Painting...................... 13 A3 Bone Carving, Jewellery............... 23 C2

Calendars)...................................... 4 C3 Mas - Wood & Mask Carving........... 14 B3 Tegallalang - Woodcarving............... 24 B2

4

Belayu - Weaving (Songket)............... 5 B3 Mengwi - Weaving........................... 15 B3 Tenganan - Double Ikat Weaving

Nusa Dua

Beratan - Silverwork & Weaving Pataen - Pottery............................... 16 B3 (Gringsing)................................... 25 D2

(Songket)........................................ 6 B1 Pejaten - Pottery............................... 17 B3 Tihingan - Gongs & Gamelan........... 26 C3

Blahbatuh - Gongs & Gamelan........... 7 C3 Penarukun - Carving........................ 18 A3 Ubud - Painting, Woodcarving &

Budakeling - Silver & Gold Work........ 8 D2 Puaya - Mask Carving & Puppet Jewellery...................................... 27 B3

Celuk - Silver & Gold Work................. 9 B3 Making........................................ 19 C3 Ubung - Pottery............................... 28 B3

TEXTILES & WEAVING
The sarong is an attractive article of clothing, sheet or towel with a multi-
tude of other uses. There are plain or printed cottons, more elegant batik
designs, and expensive fabrics, suh as endek (elegant fabric, like songket,
but the weft threads are predyed) and songket (silver- or gold-threaded
cloth, hand-woven using a floating weft technique), that are necessary
for special occasions - it is a religious obligation to look one's best at a
temple ceremony. Dress for these occasions is a simple shirt or blouse, a
sarong and a kain, a separate length of cloth wound tightly around the
hips, over the sarong.
For more formal occasions, the blouse is replaced by a length of songket
wrapped around the chest, called a kamben . Any market, especially those in
Denpasar (p171) will have a good range of textiles.

Pre-War Balinese
Modernists 1928-1942:
an additional page in
art-history, by F Haks et
al, is a beautiful book on
the work of some
brilliant but long-
neglected Balinese
artists.

Australian artist Donald
Friend found the freedom
to pursue his provocative
art and lifestyle on Bali in
the 1960s. Living in Sanur
he created the Tanjung
Sari Hotel, the island's
first boutique hotel.

OFFERINGS & EPHEMERA
Traditionally, many of Bali's most elaborate crafts have been ceremonial
offerings not intended to last: baten tegeh (decorated pyramids of fruit,
rice cakes and flowers); rice-flour cookies modelled into tiny sculptures
and entire scenes with a deep symbolic significance; lamak (long woven
palm-leaf strips used as decorations in festivals and celebrations); stylised