Sidharta Auctioneer – Fine Art Auction, Sunday, November 1, 2015
Published at Oct 7th 2015 6:15pm
While Indonesia celebrates the 70th Anniversary of Independence this year, Sidharta Auctioneer also celebrates its 10th anniversary. It has been 10 years since we held our first auction in December 2005. Holding over 70 auctions through the course of our first decade, we managed to gain the increasing trust and confidence of our clients, both vendors and buyers, and become a distinct auction house.
We have become known as an auction house that offers unique works of Indonesian art, while maintaining prudence to ensure authenticity of the pieces we offer. In our Fine Art auctions we tend to take an art historical approach, sharing knowledge about Indonesian artists, highlighting works by those who are already famous and sought after by the major collectors, and introducing lesser known artists who actually deserve much more recognition and appreciation from Indonesian art enthusiasts.
In this anniversary auction, we are very proud to feature Hendra Gunawan’s Tukang Es Puter (lot #183), a very compelling painting by the artist that not only renders the life of common people, but also expressing its complexities and intricacies. Beyond its simple appearance, we can decipher deeper layers of meaning.
While there are two Affandis dating from the 1970s, we call your attention to a portrait of renowned Indonesian poet Sitor Situmorang (lot #169), which is offered by a gentleman to give an opportunity of younger collectors to also own an Affandi, as he did when he was younger.
As usual, we present works that have been sourced from distinguished collectors. From the collection of a relative of the painter and Governor of Jakarta, Henk Ngantung, are paintings by Yoshioka (lot #062) and Yamamoto (lot #063), Japanese artists who seemed to be active in Java in the 1940s and 1950s. Unfortunately no further information about the artists are available. Three early Henk Ngantung paintings (lots #064, #065 & #066) in the auction have also come from this collection as well as the collection of the gentleman who owns the Affandi portrait of Sitor Situmorang.
From another collection we managed to obtain two works by Basoeki Abdullah from the 1960s. A painting of water buffaloes (lot #139) and another of a female nude with child (#140), were painted using slightly different approaches to realism, evidencing the painter’s mastery of the realist technique.
Our painting and sculpture by Gregorius Sidharta Soegiyo (lots #089 & #090) are also two works that are worthy of mention as they are also important pieces historically. They have also come from the collection of a lady who is relative of the artist.
Many other beautiful, interesting and strong artworks are presented in our auction. While many that we have mentioned date from the 1950s to the 1980s, there are also works by younger contemporary artists that should appeal to young collectors, including many early paintings by the painter Alfi, Eddie Hara, Tisna Sanjaya, Tommy Wondra, Didik Nurhadi, Erica Hestu Wahyuni, Hanafi, Yustoni Volunteero, Rudi St Dharma, Koko Sancoko, Catur Binaprasetyo, Yun Suroso, Zirwen Hazry, Hamdan TT, and Vani Hidayatur Rahman.
We hope that among what we offer in our 10th anniversary sale this time, there will be artworks that make meaningful connections with our clients, current and future. We hope you will enjoy our preview exhibition on October 30th and 31st, 2015 and participate in bidding for your favorite works at our auction on November 1st, 2015
Vita Brevis, Ars Longa! After 10 wonderful years, we wish to continue serving you with art in the years to come!