One of the most prevailing and typical images of Bali is that of its towering palm trees and tiered rice terraces. Forming a bountiful paradise of rich and fertile agricultural land paintings of the Island in the 1930's by the Artist Walter Spies often depict the isalnds volcanos in the distance, their peaks drapped in clouds.
[1] Walter Spies 1934, BLICK VON DER HÖHE (A VIEW FROM THE HEIGHTS) Signed, titled and dated Bali 1934 on the reverse Oil on canvas - 100.5 by 82.5 cm.; 39 1/2 by 32 1/2 in.
Both Beryl de Zoete and Walter Spies reinforced this imagined paradise through the production of their creative framing and visualisation of the landscape undertaken through photographs, films and Spies romantic paintings. Bali provided a landscape for which artists were closely connected and exposed to the land and elements, living alongside the livestock and domesticated animals on the island.
'Walter with his Cockatoo and Pet Monkey at Campuan.' BALI The imaginary Museum, The Photographs of Walter Spies and Beryl de Zoete, Michael Hitchcock and Lucy Norris [2]
In the book BALI The Imaginary Museum, The Photographs of Walter Spies and Beryl de Zoete, a Chapter is dedicated to 'The Balinese Landscape'. Featuring photographs of wide open unpopulated landscapes covered in coconut palms surrounding rigdes and contours of rice fields cut into the land collecting glistening water, these sleeping idylic compositions feature small human figures, sitting, walking or dog featured in the composition.
Claire Holt an art historian, featured in the photographs far top left, was an influential in promoting the Walter Spies as an Artists to the world in Art in Indonesia: Continuities and Change (Cornell University Press, 1967). Walter Spies can be seen in the photograph with Holt sitting in the top row, far right. [3]
BARONG LANDUNG AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Beryl de Zoetes account of landscape in terms of connecting it to Barong Landung is linked to how the puppets sing to one another, exchanging a short four line verses with one another sung in low Balinese. Beryl describes the dialogue as belonging to argricultural courtship songs. De Zoete states that a translation of the Barong Landung is complex as they, 'involve great linguistic difficulties' (de Zoete) Dance and Drama In Bali.
At the 45th International Council Traditional Music World Conference in 2019, I Nyoman Cerita delivered a paper titled 'Spiritual Functions and Axiomatic Meanings of the Barong Landung Dance and Drama in Bali. The paper provides evidence from a study undertaken in the village of Singapadu which discusses how the Barong Landung's magical and spiritual ancestral powers are valued by the villagers to control their environmental concerns. They believe that the Barong Landung has a supernatural power which can provide them with protection and prosperity.
The Subaks traditional water systems are central to Bali's irrigatation systems to grow crops. Today the subaks which today are protected by UNESCO as they are the traditional waterways of Bali feeding water into the land. Traditionally the Barong Landung have performed in the village to promote rain fall as a mean to control pests, which have a negative impact on the land if not managed in the dry season.
A painting depicting Barong Landung, by the French artists Geneieve Couteau who visited Bali in the 1960's - 70's. An exhibition of Couteau's work featured in an exhibition titled The Orient and Beyond at the National Gallery in Central Jakarta 2019. [4]
'The verdant rice terraces and woodland contrast sharply with the rugged volcanic landscape of the interior.' BALI The imaginary Museum, The Photographs of Walter Spies and Beryl de Zoete, Michael Hitchcock and Lucy Norris [5]
Text from a Dutch advertisement for the KPM as shipping line promotes Bali in 1914 as an Eden in tourist brochures (Volkenkundige Museum Nusantara)
[6]
Bali
You leave this
island with a
sigh of regret
and as long
as you live
you can never
forget this
Garden of Eden
[6] Adrian Vickers, Bali A Paradise Created
'Coconut palms and other domestic plants are cultivated around the ricefields. Not an inch of valuable land is wasted. Dogs forage in the fields for small game'. BALI The imaginary Museum, The Photographs of Walter Spies and Beryl de Zoete, Michael Hitchcock and Lucy Norris [7]
Other associated collections in the Hormiman Museum archive, include Paintings by Balinese Artist I Ketut Nguyen
Balinese Artist, I Ketut Nguyen, Courtesy of the Horniman Museum archive [8]
Balinese Artist, I Ketut Nguyen, Courtesy of the Horniman Museum archive [9]
Balinese Artist, I Ketut Nguyen, Courtesy of the Horniman Museum archive [10]
Film and entertainment also became an extended landscape for the imagined paradise of Bali. Paramount Pictures 'The Road to Bali' featuring Dorothy Lamour, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope is an example of how project paradise became embedded into Popular Culture via film. Numerous films about and filmed in Bali has been produced since.
The 'Road to Bali' Paramount Pictures [11]
Paramount Pictures Movie Poseter 1952 'Road to Bali' [12]
References
[1] Walter Spies 1934, BLICK VON DER HÖHE (A VIEW FROM THE HEIGHTS)https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-3043830
[2] Hitchcock, M., Norris, L., Spies, W. and De Zoete, B., 1995, Bali The Imaginary Museum The Photographs of Walter Spies and Beryl de Zoete Kuala Lumpar: Oxford University Press
[3] Photograph Claire Holt Cornell Archive https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/holt/
[4] Couteau Painting https://lifeasartasia.art/2019/10/01/genevieve-couteau-the-french-female-virtuoso-that-bali-art-historians-failed-to-cite/
[5] Photograph Hitchcock, M., Norris, L., Spies, W. and De Zoete, B., 1995, Bali. The Imaginary Museum The Photographs of Walter Spies and Beryl de Zoete, Kuala Lumpar: Oxford University Press
[6] Vickers, A. 2012. Bali. Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing. p.131
[7].I Ketut Nguyen, painting https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/8461353/Bali-Dancing-for-the-Gods-at-the-Horniman-Museum-in-London.html?image=1
[8] Ibid
[9] Ibid
[10] Vickers, A. 2012. Bali. Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, p.11
[11] Road to Bali Film poster
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