Two Balinese ink and wash drawings of village life

Ink and wash on paper, comprising two densely composed scenes of traditional Balinese village life. The first depicts two men operating ropes and a suspended net to capture bats among thatched houses, palm trees, and luxuriant tropical vegetation. Several bats fly around the net, with mountains and clouds visible in the distance.

The second depicts a cockfight attended by a large gathering of villagers outside a temple compound. Two roosters confront one another at the center, surrounded by seated spectators, handlers, baskets, and various implements. An elaborately ornamented temple gateway rises behind the figures, while palm trees, distant mountains, water, and birds complete the landscape.

Executed with strong contour lines and graduated washes of black and gray, the drawings combine closely observed scenes of everyday life with densely layered tropical settings. Their narrative subject matter, crowded compositions, and extensive use of ink and wash reflect the development of modern Balinese painting associated with the Ubud and Batuan traditions during the mid-20th century.

Modern Balinese painting developed rapidly during the 1930s, with Ubud, Sanur, and Batuan emerging as its principal artistic centers. Artists increasingly worked with paper, black ink, and watercolor, while expanding their subjects beyond traditional religious narratives to include village life, local customs, and personal observation. In 1943, The Museum of Modern Art in New York presented Bali, Background for War, an important early North American exhibition of Balinese modern art. The exhibition included paintings collected in Ubud, Sanur, and particularly Batuan, and presented them alongside photographs documenting everyday life on the island. The densely narrative compositions and closely observed scenes in the present drawings reflect this broader development of modern Balinese painting.

Balinese school, mid-20th century.

Each framed.

References:

Kathleen Ditzig, “Bali, Background for War (1943), Part I,” The Museum of Modern Art, 2024 （https://post.moma.org/bali-background-for-war-1943-part-i-a-regional-exhibition-of-balinese-modern-art-as-a-military-technology-of-worldmaking/）

Compare an ink-wash drawing by the Batuan artist I Reneh in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, object no. 42.2; and I Dewa Nyoman Tjita’s Daily-life Scene, circa 1940s, in the Museum of International Folk Art, object no. A.2022.60.38. (https://emuseum.mfah.org/objects/45562/untitled?ctx=973ba0dffdb2d321956b6a56c7618c51633245a5&idx=0    https://collection.internationalfolkart.org/objects/89929/dailylife-scene?ctx=40e1892782e72d07cac896ca63e01e284ef934f2&idx=3 )

{Sight size: a)11 3/4 H x 9 inches (30 x 22.8 cm) b) 13 1/2 H x 9 D inches (34.2 x 22.8 cm)}. {Each Frame size: a) 17 1/2 x 13 3/8 inches (44 x 33 cm)}.

In the drawing with flag there are minor abrasions with losses in upper right corner. Contact Asian Art Department for additional photographs.