Trubus Indonesian Painter

Balinese Dancer

dimensions: 110cm x 70cm

This fine oil-on-canvas is typical of the work and themes of the Javanese painter Trubus Sudarsonon who painted in Bali during the 1950s and 60s. It shows a Balinese dancer before a background of wafting, twisting incense smoke and beautifully captures the bright colours and the blend of reality and mysticism that is Bali.

The personal story of Trubus mirrored that of Indonesia’s turbulent period just after Independence. He studied painting with Sudjojono and Affandi, two other well-known Indonesian painters, in Jakarta during the Japanese Occupation (1942-45). He was a member of the SIM / Young Indonesian Artists and Pelukis Rakyat / People’s Painters groups in Yogyakarta. And after World War Two, he produced anti-Dutch propaganda posters during the struggle for Independence. This contributed to his imprisonment by the Dutch authorities in 1948.

He lectured at the Indonesian Academy of Fine Arts after his release, from 1950 to 1960. In 1954 he visited Czechoslovakia on a cultural mission, and in 1958 he was appointed a member of Yogyakarta’s regional government. By now, his left-wing sympathies were pronounced.

By then, Trubus’ prominence as a painter was cemented and several examples of his work were acquired for the personal collection of President Sukarno.

Trubus was killed during the purges which followed the aborted communist coup in September 1966 – purges in which hundreds of thousands of Indonesians were killed on Java and Bali for being suspected communist sympathisers. No-one is quite sure how he met his death but he disappeared during the wave of mass killings. This painting, dated in 1966, was painted the year of Trubus’ death and must have been among the last he painted.

The canvas is currently in a frame that most probably dates to the early 1970s. It would be best shipped without the frame. The painting is in excellent condition with no obvious losses and no restoration.

Dullah, Paintings from the Collection of Dr Sukarno, President of the Republic of Indonesia, Volumes 1 & 2, The People’s Fine Arts Publishing House, China, 1956.

Acquired by the previous owner in Indonesia during the late 1960s.