Raden Saleh
Raden Saleh (1813-1880) is considered Indonesia’s first modern painter. Born in Semarang and trained and working in Europe among high class and royal society he was an oriental enigma in the midst of the romantic period of European history. He had all he needed to become highly praised and acknowledged in Europe, and he received all due respect for his work there, but he was an even greater enigma after returning to his native Java where he was out of place both within Javanese society as in the bigoted European Colonial community.
Few Javanese ‘princes’ roamed Europe in the 19th century. Let alone one that could capture the imagination of High Society. Raden Saleh did and he spent more than 20 years in Holland, Germany, France and other places. His true love on the continent was Dresden at the court of Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. His life was made difficult, for society changed around him while he was unaware of this. Java had changed since he left it for his long sojourn in Europe, Europe had changed when he returned to it after having spent years in Java. He was in this sense a true expat painter.
His many paintings and his personal and social life are portrayed in great detail in this magnificent book. The many illustrations of his person and his work give us a fine impression of the man and his creations, the time he lived in and the places he went to. It portrays also the ways of a bigot colonial society built on distrust and racism in which an ill-definable person like Raden Saleh was out of place. This in the end was the cause of his misfortune and the end of his psychological and economic well-being.
The book is well written although some quotes would perhaps not have needed to be repeated. It is unfortunate that no direct links between the paintings that are being discussed and the large illustration sections at the end of the book have been made so that linking one to the other is cumbersome. The very negative picture of the Dutch in the colony is not matched by a detailed researched reaction of the Javanese which makes the picture distorted and one-sided. I doubt if Javanese society was so much more in favour of ‘Java’s first modern man’ than the Dutch were. I am also not sure if this discussion adds to our understanding of Saleh’s work. The remark on page 66 that Saleh was a non-romantic man who painted the romantic way is interesting, especially when we look at the paintings Saleh made of the Javanese, which were highly conventional. Perhaps his subjects made Saleh decide what kind of painting to produce. Interesting too is the fact that this now highly appreciated painter was at his time in Europe conventional at best and not quite as outstanding as he is being portrayed now.
It is a pity that this book did not escape the often made mistake of discussing paintings in detail and subsequently not including them in the illustration section. For instance, the painting Chasse au Cerf, discussed on page 59 is not included, as is the painting of Nicolaas Piereman discussed on page 79 that portrays the capture of Prince Diponegoro. As Saleh’s painting of the same event is discussed in comparison with this painting it is truly a pity that it was not included.
The book is lavishly illustrated and contains a selection of his letters to J.C. Baud, Ernest II os Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, King William III of the Netherlands, and Governor-General van Lansberge, one section of selected sketches and drawings and one on paintings. No reasons are given why these particular letters and illustrations of his works were chosen for inclusion, however.
Dick van der Meij (dickvdm2005@yahoo.com)