Ida Bagus Made
He was born in Tebasaya, Ubud, Bali in 1915. Ida Bagus Made came from a Brahman family of accomplished artists in Tampaksiring, Bali. His Father, Ida Bagus kembeng, was a well known painter who won the prestigious Silver Medal in 1937 at the International Colonial Art Exposition in Paris. Ida Bagus Made 1st learned painting and carving from his father. He later studied painting under the guidance of Rudolf Bonnet. Bonnet once wrote that Ida Bagus Made was one of the most talented artist in Bali. He was in his teens when the modernization of Balinese art began in the late 1920s, and only 21 years old when he joined the prestigious Pitamaha Artist Guild, founded in 1936 to preserve Balinese art from the threat of tourism and commercialism.
His father, Ida Bagus Kembeng had two wives: Jero Deblog and Ida Ayu Rai. Ida Bagus Made was a child from his 2nd wife. From his marriage with Jero Deblog, Ida Bagus Kembeng had two sons: Ida Bagus Putu Wiri and Ida Bagus Made Belawa. With Ida Ayu Rai, Kembeng had a daughter, Ida Ayu Oka, and two sons: Ida Bagus Made Poleng and Ida Bagus Nyoman Raka.
Ida Bagus Made was married to Gusti Niang and had one daughter, Ida Ayu Sadri. Since Ida Bagus Made didn't have a son, he adopted Ida Bagus Pudja, a son of his half brother, Ida Bagus Belawa.
He was known by the Balinese as a ritual specialist for carving sacred masks imbued with magical powers for the surrounding temples of Ubud. As a traditional painter of the Pitamaha generation, he became known worldwide for his artistic mastery.
Ida Bagus Made was a prolific painter who had a profound distrust of art dealers and collectors. He scrutinized his admirers and only a handful of collectors passed his test. The late Indonesian President Sukarno was one of such collectors that Ida Bagus Made revered. His works are well sought after and are in the collection of many museums in the world.
He died after an illness in 1999. In 2000, following the artist’s last wish, the widow of Ida Bagus Made loaned over 100 paintings from the artist’s private collection to the Puri Lukisan Museum for safekeeping.
Ida Bagus Made's paintings are some of the best examples of the Ubud school from the Pitamaha generation, and have not been surpassed by younger painters. His paintings have been acquired by prestigious institutions all over the world, including the United Nations, the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Royal Tropical Institute Museum (Amsterdam) and the Royal Ethnographic Museum (Leiden). In Indonesia, his paintings are in the collections of former President Sukarno, the Museum Puri Lukisan, the Neka Museum, the Agung Rai Museum of Art, the Bentara Budaya Museum, and many others.
Before the Second World War, his paintings were included in many touring exhibitions organized by the Pitamaha Artist Guild. Exhibitions were held in the Kunst-ring of Batavia (1936, 1937, 1939); Bandung (1936, 1938); Tegal (1938); Medan, Palembang and Surabaya (1939).
After 1945, he stopped participating in any exhibitions. Not until 1998 that he gave a blessing to a solo exhibition organized by Darga Gallery. The exhibition (14 March - 14 April 1998) featured paintings from the Neka Museum, The Agung Rai Museum of Art and of a handful private collectors. Ida Bagus Made attended the opening of the exhibition. A short catalog, entitled Ida Bagus Made - Mata Air Campuhan Masa Silam, accompanied the exhibition.
In 2001, a posthumous solo exhibition was held at the Herbert Johnson Museum of the Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. The exhibition was curated by Prof. Kaja McGowan of Cornell University. Third teen paintings from three private collectors were shown from August 18 - October 28, 2001. An exhibition leaflet: Suaranya Gong Kebyar: the Balinese Art of Ida Bagus Made was published.
Related Sites for Ida Bagus Made
- Ida Bagus Putu Dunia - Wikipedia bahasa Indonesia, ensiklopedia … read Ida Bagus Made
- Newman's Commedia Mask Company: handmade leather … read Ida Bagus Made
- Walter Spies - His Life - His House in Bali - BIOGRAPHY read Ida Bagus Made
- Ida Bagus Wirahaji read Ida Bagus Made
