Many Indonesian landscape artists in the early part of the twentieth century were clearly influenced by the somewhat romantic style landscape paintings of expatriate Europeans and Japanese living in Indonesia. However, there were also a number of indigenous and Indo- European realist landscape painters who, from the early to mid-twentieth century, developed a style commonly referred to as Mooi Indie. This book has its genesis in trips to England and southern Europe taken in the 1970s where the author experienced, and was attracted to, the beauty and technical skills of eighteenth- to mid-nineteenth century naturalist English landscape school painters and the derivative French Barbizon plein - air school. Although influenced by the above schools, Mooi Indie painters had their own unique subject matter, perspective, brush strokes and palette which make their work instantly recognizable and eminently worthy of respect. The largest concentration of Mooi Indie painters was in Bandung, West Java. Apart from Basuki Abdullah, Mas Pirngadie, Suriosubroto and Sukardji, most of their work is little known. One family living at Bandung included three superb Mooi Indie painters of which Basar Idjonati was the most distinguished.
About the Author: Darrell john Kitchener is an Australian who in 1973 gained a doctorate in Zoology from the University of Western Australia and then worked for 28 years with the Western Australian Museum. He began his research in Indonesia in 1984 as a biologist exploring the nature of the interface between the Australian and Oriental biogeographic regions. This took him on extensive travels through the archipelago, including all the major islands and 35 of the smaller ones, usually living in remote communities. In 1993, he moved to Jakarta and for the next 22 years managed a range of projects for international conservation organizations working to conserve Indonesian biological diversity. These included projects on protected areas, orangutans, forest reform, watershed management and global climate change. During his work in Indonesia he developed an appreciation for the richness and variety of Indonesian culture and its artistic expression, particularly fine art, ikat cloth and pottery. Along with his wife, Heny Kustiarsih, he has a book in press on the Chinese and Southeast Asian ceramics found beneath the waters of the Musi River near Palembang, southern Sumatra.