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With sketches, people cannot lie
Sadly, the important part of Indonesian youths abroad during the period of independence revolution has often escaped the attention of historians.
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A visitor look at one of Sudjojono works at Sudjojono's sketch painting exhibition at Bentara Budaya, Jakarta on Tuesday, June 6. 2017. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
O
nly a few maestros of painting have written their own accounts of their personal lives. Therefore, the autobiography of S. Sudjojono, or pak Djon, constitutes a major contribution to Indonesia’s visual art scene.
Pak Djon is a thinker of Indonesian culture. The ideas he has portrayed through paintings are inseparable from his vision about the culture of Indonesia. It is also clearly noticeable that pak Djon is a true nationalist. When he felt that brushes and canvases no longer served as adequate means of struggle, he took up arms without hesitation, joining guerrilla forces during the war of independence in 1945-1949. He even witnessed his father being shot dead in an attempt to escape chasing Dutch troops.
“I could no longer be calmly and peacefully engaged in painting, or help make posters or pamphlets to be distributed to our armed fighters in the battle front. All of us were now in the battle front. The only way was to form our own troops. As for arms, food for war, we could secure them later,” he wrote.
As a troop leader, during spare time pak Djon made various sketches of troop members, evacuees and the scenes of guerrilla regions. He could only draw sketches with a pencil because he had no chance of carrying oil paints to guerrilla areas. The sketches he produced were later sold and the money earned was partly used to meet troop needs.
