D-SH125 CS1B: Analysis of Indonesian Paintings - Art & Design

This essay provides an analysis of two Indonesian paintings: Mas Pirngadie's "Landscape with Paddy Filed and Mountain" and Raden Sale’s "Javanese Temple in Ruins." The analysis of Pirngadie's work focuses on its depiction of Indonesian social life and culture through the imagery of rice fields, mountains, and farming activities, reflecting the favorable climate and economic activities of the region. The essay interprets Sale’s painting as a representation of religious polarization in Java, highlighting the deserted landscape and ruined temple as symbols of a society undergoing social and religious changes. The essay references scholarly works to support its interpretations, providing a contextual understanding of the artworks within the broader Indonesian social and historical landscape. The assignment is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wealth of academic resources for students.

Running head: ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL 1
Art and Design School
Student’s Name
Institution’s Name

ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL
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Art and Design School
Mas Pirngadie Landscape with Paddy Filed and Mountain
Oil on canvas
Mas Pirngadie’s painting is undoubtedly related to the theme of food. The farthest area towards
the horizon is a mountain and some trees. Below is a large field of rice, a homestead, and a
person riding on a bull lead by another person. According to Cox (2015), some of these paintings
were inspired by the Dutch officials as a way of remembering the time they spent in their colony.
The rice fields proximity to the mountain and the color used to paint the sky depict a favorable
climate. Additionally, the presence of the paddy fields also communicates the economic activity
of the residents which is farming and animal rearing. Moreover, the brown coloring on the rice
leaves and banana leaves signify the tropical heat and the readiness for harvesting. In general,
the landscape images and figures presented by Pirngadie are not mere objects but tools for
communicating about the Indonesian social life and culture.

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Raden Sale (b.1811 Indonesia: d, 1880, Indonesia) Javanese Temple in Ruins
Raden Sale’s Javanese Temple in Ruins appears on the medium of oil on canvas mounted on
fiberboard. It was presented as a gift to Mrs. Sally Burbank Swart. Just the name suggests
Javanese Temple in Ruins features a ruined temple appearing in one of the many landscapes in
Java. Therefore, the painting has a religious connotation. First, the landscape on which the
temple stands on appears deserted. For example, there are visible disarranged rocks signifying
the incompleteness of the temple or destruction. At the top of the temples appear some growing
weeds showing that the temple was no longer in use. Similarly, Sale paints a few persons in
groups of two and three but are a distance away from the temple. Saleh may have featured the
religious polarization that swept through Java following the revival of Islam and other social
reforms (Ricklefs, 2008).

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References
Cox, M. J. (2015). The Javanese self in portraiture from 1880-1955.
Ricklefs, M. C. (2008). Religious Reform & Polarization in Java. Isim Review, 21, 2.