ART AND THE ARTIST

THE PLASTIC ARTS IN MODERN BALI

New materials increased the possibilities of the newly liberated art. The introduction of European paper, Chinese ink, hair brushes, and steel pens resulted in a new style of pictures in black and white, mosaics of delicate black lines with washes of various tones of greys and black, often touched with gold and red. But there are also formal paintings on wood or cloth done in the old Balinese pigments in which they attempted to give atmosphere and mood through colour: night scenes in beautifully harmonized colours that are decidedly a step forward from the limitations of the pure vermilion, blue, and ochre of the old-style paintings.

Besides the scenes from daily life, the modern Balinese painters paint episodes of mythology in which the general conception has become freed from the old conventional rules. There are the same elegant gods, beautiful princesses, and other fantastic characters, painted among jungles in which every tree and plant is drawn with each leaf carefully outlined and shaded, jungles that have been wrongly compared with those of the douanier Rousseau, but which resemble more the drawing of Beardsley and Persian or Indian miniatures, none of which the Balinese artists have ever seen.

Favourite subjects are from the Balinese Esop's fables, the tantri stories, in which the artists find amusing incidents between animals living in the tapestry-like forests of fantastic leaves and flowers.

The birth of individualism rescued Balinese painting from its latent state and placed it on the same level as the emancipated sculpture - new arts that, considering the searching intensity and liveliness of the Balinese spirit, will perhaps develop unpredictable achievements.

The Crafts: Perhaps one of the most charming qualities of the Balinese mentality is the happy combination of the primitive simplicity in which they live, with a highly refined and rather decadent taste. The Balinese are a people who retain a close contact with the soil, living practically out of doors in simple thatched houses, using artifacts belonging to a primitive culture and going ordinarily almost nude; but they gather for festivals in elaborate buildings of carved stone and dress in silks and gold to enjoy themselves, worshipping the forces of nature by means of flowers, good food, music, dancing, and works of art that only the most highly developed technical skill can produce.

In sharp contrast with their super-elaborated sculpture, painting, and dramatic arts, are the purely functional objects of daily use found in every home implements of labour, simple but effective tools made of bamboo, wood, and iron, walls of split bamboo, cool mats for sleeping made of finely woven pandanus leaf, light but strong baskets and pocketbooks, and clay vessels to keep water cool. The common objects of daily requirements are beautiful in their simplicity, in the handling of elemental materials such as wood, bamboo, palm-leaf, and clay.

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