Bali Maestro

Bali Painting Maestro | I Gusti Nyoman Lempad

Today there is still much confusion about what year he was born, but many sources say that Lempad, the third of four children, was born in 1862, We know that he was in his old age when the Dutch and the Japanese colonized Indonesia. And since he spent his last breath in 1978, he is thought to have been 116 years old when he died.

During his life, and particularly in his old age, Lempad was looked after tenderly by his children and grandchildren. If the weather was less than good, he was difficult to get hold of unless there was some highly serious matter to discuss. He would often relax in his favourite place - the eastem bale (hall). However, whenever he felt strong, he would be seen with his walking stick around the environs of the puri. "Don't bother becoming a clever person" advised his father when he was young, and this was what he told people when they asked him what his recipe was for unfailing strength.

"Clever people live short lives and die quickly" a sentence which flies in the face of traditional theories which argue that cleverness enables one to look after oneself to better effect and thereby achievelongevity. However, it was a sentiment that per haps underlined the flight of the Lempad family from Blahbatuh to Ubud. Obviously his father didn't want his children to be like him a victim of court politics. Lempad was therefore deprived of formal education, and could not read, although was able to write his name in Balinese on his paintings, simply by copying the form of the examples he was given. Although his father was a craftsman, Lempad didn't inherit any of his skills from him, but rather from a Brahmin who lived at the Puri. This man worked in several fields, as a building specialist, interior designer, sculptor, painter, and ceremonial paraphernalia expert. From this Brahmin Lempad learnt all about dance, religion and society, as well as a whole host of other skills. His abilities improved rapidly and he soon be came known as a gifted member of the Ubud artistic community.

In gratitude to the members of the puri who had helped him, Lempad was later able to grace the walls of the puri with creations of his own making.Unfortunately these examples are no longer in existence, having disappeared through the years - nobody knows where.

When he was 40 years of age he helped Waiter Spies to build his home in Campuhan, Ubud. Spies had felt a strong attraction to Bali due to its friendly people with their unique traditional culture and their beautiful environment. He loved to see life in the villages where people were planting rice, busy at the markets, and performing ceremonies almost daily, and he attempted to recreate what he saw on canvas.

One day Lempad was resting in between working on Spies' house in Campuhan. He was aimlessly sketching away on a piece of paper and Spies was most surprised at what he saw taking shape. He very much admired Lempad's painting style and would 'buy' them in exchange for anything he had - shirts, cloth etc. Lempad's family acknowledge that Spies was largely responsible for raising the standard of his work. He would advise Lempad for example, that landscapes did not sell well, urging him instead to paint whatever came into his head and to concentrate on his trademark pieces.

According to Lempad, Spies was a gifted painter, although not particularly worthy of admiration, because he had been taught standard techniques and therefore had a head start over the Balinese, who at the time were selftaught, and this led Lempad to observe, " If we had the same basic training as Pis (his pronunciation of 'Spies') we could be as good as them."

Lempad finally concentrated on wayang paintings, with themes taken from the Ramayana and Tantri epics, as well as Balinese folk tales.His famous piece Men Brayut depicts a mother being pestered by her countless children, and until today this remains a popular theme amongst Ubud painters, sculptors and carvers, both traditional and modern.

His style is a memorable one, as easy to remember as the sculpting style of Tjokot, for example. He always painted in black and white using fine, strong and magical lines that seemed uninterrupted. "Bare my paintings to the world so that all can see both their beauty as well as their shortcomings.", he once said in response to a question as to why he didn't use colour.

Many people wonder what could have been going through Lempad's mind as he applied brush to canvas. And Lempad developed the characters he was depicting into fascinating people, although he might only of heard about them in a story, or in passing. Whatever the source, all of his creations seemed taken from real life, and this is the key to his success.

Lempad refused to refer to himself as a builder, even though he often worked closely in connection with building, especially that connected with Hindu ceremonies. He felt that ones role in society should not be determined by the individual, but rather by society as a whole. It is clear, though that his work on buildings was nothing short of wondrous, and it wasn't ordinary folk who called on his skills, but puri family rnambers. It was Lempad who made the lembu (bull) and naga banda (dragon) for the cremation of the last king of Gianyar in 1962. He also did the same for acremation at Puri Ubud in 1973, even though he was by that time very old indeed but no less energetic when it came to 'ngayah' - altruistic work for the community.

As a painter Lempad was active in the formation of Pita Maha - an arts organisation led by three benefactors: Tjokorde Gde Agung Sukawati, Walter Spies, and Rudolf Bonnet, in 1935. The organisation was led by Spies and a number of Balinese artists right through to the 1950's. The group also taught any young up-and-coming artists in Ubud who seemed to show aptitude.

It was through Pita Maha that Spies and Bonnet were able to introduce western painting, which caused something of a renaissance in local style. As far as possible, Spies and Bonnet urged young artists to look at their surroundings - the rice fields, the markets, social and religious life, and the daily life of the people.

To give Pita Maha meaning, Spies and Bonnet introduced work produced by the organisation to visitors from abroad. They even staged exhibitions at home, and also abroad, in Holland for example.

As long as he was alive Lempad was never far from wood, paper, pencil, or Chinese ink. This is one of the reasons, they say, that he was able to live such a long life. One of the interesting aspects of his work is perhaps their imperfections .Not one is free of remaining sketchings and pen cil marks, which he just left there for us to see. Is this a personal idiosyncrasy? He himself acknowledged that he regarded all of his works to be unfinished, and there was always room for improvement in accordance with inspiration which can come at any moment.

In his work, although he was for a long time connected with Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet, he was never taken in by them to the extent that most Balinese artists were. "Lempad was obviously born Lempad, and his unique style had - it seemed already been predetermined. His modem wayang style featured very basic brush strokes. His strokes bear an extremely personal character and even today there's no body who can match him," profered the great modern painter Nyoman Gunarsa during a moment of admiration.

The materials used by Lempad were simple: Chinese ink, pen, paper. And yet we still see a strength of line and accuracy, and an uncanny ability to quote and to forth character. His paintings which are now housed in the Puri Lukisan Museum, and in the Neka Art Gallery, rarely feature colour, except perhaps to introduce accent or to strengthen certain features. In free-painting, he kept his work in albums according to themes - Jayaprana and Dukuh Suladri, for example.

Lempad was an amazing master of his craft. Most of his themes came from the Mahabharata and Tantri epics, along with folk stories - love stories, even! However, even his creation kama sutra cannot be seen as pornography, but rather as a work of art.He arrived on the art scene as a self-motivated natural. His works never appeared in the art shops and galleries which today can either make or break new figures. No, he achieved his greatness without recourse to the gallery system and commercial promotion. Don't be surprised then if you have problems finding a Lempad. If you're really interested, then you'd best go to his house for information.

Art lovers everywhere paid close attention to Lempad throughout his career, including the Indonesian government, who, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Indonesian Independence, presented him with an honorary reward and a golden medal along with Rp100,000, which he irnmediately gave to his grandchildren who used it to buy a motor car. Other awards included the Udayana Award in 1975, and the Wijaya Kusuma and Dharma Kusuma trophies. Lempad and his work were also captured on film by Lome Blair and John Darling in conjunction with Australian television. The film Lempad of Bali received the Mitra award as best documentary at the 26th Asian film festival in 1980 in Yogyakarta. Meanwhile the Sanggar Dewata Indonesia added credence to his name with the creation of the Lempad Prize. Lempad deserved it all, and more, if compared to the service he did to the Balinese people and their art.

In this respect Pande Wayan Suteja Neka, the owner of Neka Museum, where there can be found a pavillion containing 18 examples of Lempad's work, has some interesting tales to tell. When he first began to look for Lempad paintings, he admits being somewhat apprehensive. However, one day he plucked up the courage to speak to Lempad during a temple ceremony. "Without much to do, Lempad invited me to come to his house when it pleased me. Then started saving money so as to buy some of his paintings."

One afternoon Neka went to Lempad's house with a wallet full of cash, and Lempad invited him to choose for himself. "My heart beating fast, I chose a painting called Bertemunya Durma dengan sang Ibu, wondering whether or not I would be able to afford it." However when he asked about the price, Lempad said he needn't pay because it was clearly to be used as part of a collection and not sold on for profit.

This is just one example of Lempad's amenability and sociability. If is works were hunted down by galleries as far as Amsterdam (Amsterdam Museum), and Leiden (Museum of Folk Culture), as well as top museums all over the world. The individuality of Lempad was written clearly in every one of his works, which, although simple, bore a unique identity Despite the fact that his work has had an enormous influence on painters right up until today, he has had no imitators, except perhaps his grandson Gusti Nyoman Sudara, now a teacher at SMSR (Fine Arts High School) in Ubud where he teaches classical Balinese studies.

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