Hendra Gunawan, Women at the Fish Market

Hendra Gunawan, Women at the Fish Market

Instead of such a "heroic" depiction, although not as realist in style, Hendra Gunawan's rendition of Women at the Fish Market, shows a more realistic nuance, in which the women seem to joke or gossip during their activities. For them, working is as much a social activity as it is a economic activity. This straight-forward yet insightful observation, is the reason that works by Hendra, as a painter well-known for his paintings of common people, are highly regarded by the most serious of art collectors. 

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Sidharta Fine Art, November 2016 | Discovering Collections For Our Clients

Discovering Wonderful Collections For Our Wonderful Clients


In order to present our clients with an auction, we have to find interesting works or art that someone or another would like to sell. Auction houses usually get works from galleries or dealers, but the most exciting lots usually come from the collections of old connoisseurs who have become detached from the current network of art collectors due to a generational gap or other social matters.

Old collections that consist of a select number of authentic artworks are very hard to come by, and therefore when we do come across one or two it give us great pleasure and satisfaction. It makes us happy and at the same time proud because we envision that our discovery will bring pleasure to our valued clients who also would like to acquire the wonderful art pieces for their collection.

Once in a while through our networks of families, friends and acquaintances, we get introduced to families who consider it time to let go of their collections. Recently, a small yet wonderful collection of Indonesian fine art has been entrusted to be auctioned through our auction house.

The collection consists of various Indonesian art works, some of which we highlight here.

Bagong Kussudiardja, Women Figures 

Rustamadji, Women Carrying Baskets of Fish on their Heads

Dezentje, View of Lake in Mountain Region 

Lee Man Fong, Boy with Water Buffaloes

Nyoman Gunarsa, Legong Dancers

Lim Wa Sim, Pendet Dancer 

Sudarso, Seated Woman Holding a Basket

Tatang Ganar, Seated Woman in Kebaya 

JB Iwan Sulistyo, Two Women with Terracotta Water Vessels 

From the selection of paintings in the possession of the collector, it seems evident that he was fascinated with people a work, and in particular women at work. Various forms of Balinese dances performed by women are shown in different artistic styles by Bagong Kussudiardja, Lim Wa Sim and Nyoman Gunarsa. While Sudarso's painting is of a woman with a basket taking a rest, Tatang Ganar depicts a socially active yet culturally conscious Indonesian woman elegantly and smartly dressed in her kebaya.   

In the collection there is one of JB Iwan Sulistyo's early works, which is a painting of two women carrying water vessels. This painting seems to show a different and in many ways more interesting phase of the artist's oeuvre, which shows traces of his artistic influences. 

Rustamadji's painting of women carrying baskets of fish, suggests not only the women's determination to work hard but also their communal spirit of progressing together, which should be the spirit and ethos of how people do business in the country today. 

For further info, email us at info@sidharta.co 

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Hendra Gunawan's Tukang Es Puter

Hendra Gunawan's Tukang Es Puter

oil on canvas  
149 x 69 cm

Sidharta Fine Art Auction 

1 November 2015 

Kunstkring Jakarta 

Together with Affandi and Sudjojono, Hendra Gunawan has always been considered as the most important Indonesian modern masters. In fact, not only does he paint the lives of the common people of Indonesia, the way he creates forms, his brushstrokes, pallette and compositions are unlike any other (especially Western)  painter and therefore often considered to be the most “authentically Indonesian” artist. In conjunction with the 70^th anniversary of the Indonesian Independence this year, President Joko Widodo with the Paramadharma cultural medal of honor.

We are very proud to feature in our Fine Art Auction, Hendra Gunawan’s Tukang Es Puter, a painting depicting a scene surround the activities of a crank ice cream vendor. In the hot, tropical villages in Indonesia, while ice cream is certainly an item of luxury, some villagers make ice cream using a simple hand crank ice cream maker that uses crushed ice, raw milk and rock salt (similar to the kind that is used to make old fashioned home-made ice cream in the Western world). They sell the product by carrying a couple of large wooden pails of ice cream balanced on a large wooden or bamboo stick, which they place on their shoulders, around the villages.

In this particular scene, the painter slightly diverts our attention away from the vendor, to take note of the kneeling woman in the foreground. Just as the woman appears trying to enjoy a spoon of the es puter ice cream she just purchased, her duties as a mother call. Her toddler seems still unable to yet end his habit of breast-feeding, although he is no longer a small baby. Meanwhile, her little girl seems to also attempting to attract her attention by hugging her from behind. Her attempt to attain a simple pleasure is often held back by her duties and obligations. Such is the complex life of common Indonesian women, as Hendra Gunawan has observed.

Hendra Gunawan’s paintings usually are depictions the common people and their lives. They are often not merely idyllic pictorial renditions but often they are indeed insightful yet subtle observations that explore their humanity, their struggle of making ends meet, their attempts to attain their simple pleasures, and the challenges they often face. The insightful observations, as can be seen in this painting, distinguish the masterpieces from the rest.