Indonesia is said to have a slew of art collectors. Some 21 are documented in Odyssee (published by Equinox), but there are at least an equal number of collectors who were not included for one reason or another. That Dr. Eddy Katimansah was included may have been an accident, for he does not like to be defined as a "collector".
"I am just a scavenger of art," he insists.
Nevertheless, he and his family are considered the "real thing", a rarity in the art collectors' world. A recently published book confirms the notion.
Family Life is a collection of works entirely focused on woman as the "bearer of human life". Indeed, human life is Eddy's focus. After all, as a gynecologist and obstetrician, he delivers new life into the world.
Eddy is as passionate about his work as he is about the art he purchases. The collection of 669 works that he - supported by his wife and two children - assembled over 40 years, feature couples (man and woman), mothers and children, and birth, in realistic as well as abstract and contemporary modes, by artists with a great variety of skills and from many different cultures, using a wide range of materials.
Launched on March 6 in Yogyakarta amid an intimate circle of close friends and relatives, it is the most honest and unpretentious book published in Indonesia today.
The book was made as an homage to Eddy's wife Krisanti Katimansah, who celebrated her 75th birthday last year. It also marks more than 40 years of passionate collecting.
Dr. Eddy has been intrigued by the wonder of birth and life-giving ever since he started helping mothers deliver their babies. This fascination shines through the entire collection of works that includes just a single work each by artists of name, such as Affandi, Jeihan, Hendra Gunawan, or Fernando Botero, Chen Wengling, or Awan Simatupang, Heri Dono, Entang Wiharso, Dolorosa Sinaga, Iriantine Karnaya, but also includes a large body of works made by artists whose names have not yet reached the artists' firmament, or are simply marked Anonymous.
Looking through the book with its 600-plus plates, a heightened excitement takes hold of the viewer, as the images presented page after page lay bare the sheer energy and passion that must have made the Katimansahs look, not for names, but for the artist's imagination in fitting their own vision to represent birth and everything related. The overwhelming variety and number makes it hard to decide upon the definitive angle from which to enjoy the book. In fact, there are so many angles that one would need a long time to absorb the many peculiarities in each and every work. But as overwhelming and diverse as the plates may be, they all convey the sense of magic ingrained in the mother-child relationship.
I have personally wondered at the multitude of images that represent a myriad of artists from the anonymous and primitive to the unknown and well-known, with styles ranging from realist, modern and abstract to contemporary, from the variety of cultures near and far, as well as the sheer quantity of media used. But after having flicked through the 600-plus images on 368 pages with rising interest, it was amazing to realize that so many artists featured the mother carrying her child in a "show-off" position.
But the Katimansahs' eyes apparently did not stop at such conventional images for they also found Ballade Maternelle by Kelyne featuring a mother and child in an intimate pose, and Lies Darja's Mother and Child, which reflects the connection between a mother and child by featuring a child so small that it looks as if it is part of the mother's big body.
There is also the refreshing Untitled painting by Umar who shows the ease with which mothers breast-feed their baby while simultaneously caring for animals. And how does one rock a baby in the countryside? In Rocking the baby, Yani Mariani Sastranegara lets her pewter Mother comfortably sit on a rock. The issue of mothers and children surely does not exclude the father, even if he is a soldier. That is made clear in Subroto's Father and Son, a painting of a boy who desperately clings to his soldier father who is about to leave for the battlefield. The mother and child theme also touches on family planning, as seen in The Ninth Child by Sadarisman, featuring a mother with her baby, while the father and eight children are peeping through a window.
While there is only enough space to mention the most remarkable works in the collection, there is in fact a wealth of knowledge that could be retrieved from the entire book. One may be immediately struck by the finely made Javanese and Balinese Wedding Couples, but also equally be fascinated by the sculptures from the Eastern Islands, such as Sumba, Timor, and Papua, which appear rough and harsh in comparison, but carry their own beauty.
It would be interesting to study the changing styles in representing the mother-child image over the course of time, or between countries or cultures, or the varying materials that came into fashion after the use of wood for sculptures. The varying quality of sculptures from Java, Bali and Eastern Indonesia (Flores, Sumba, Timor, Papua) and the Chinese or European works could give rise to the question of culture or education. The collection encompasses various periods of time, and portrays many aspects of historical, cultural, social and artistic significance. Sadly, and surprisingly, the descriptions by art historian Helena Spanjaard, who also wrote the main introduction, do not offer this kind of analysis.
Eddy was born 1936. He graduated from medical school in 1962, and obtained his certificate as a gynecologist and obstetrician in 1966. His 40-plus years of passionate collecting, supported by his wife and two children, has never followed the mainstream-collectors in the country, nor has his genuine love for the arts ever been compromised by market fluctuation. Family Life makes that very clear.
Family Life
The Art Collection of Eddy Katimansah and Family
268 pages, 669 plates
Published by The Katimansahs, 2009
