I Gusti Nyoman Lempad is the most revered Balinese artist of the 20th century, but until now there have been no books dedicated to his work.  

That gap has been filled by a magnificent new study of the artist assembled by Ana Gaspar, Antonio Casanovas and Jean Couteau.  

Entitled Lempad: A Timeless Balinese Master, the book documents Lempad's architecture, drawings, sculpture and mask carvings with a compelling collection of photographs and essays.

Aside from the artwork he left behind, there is little written documentation of Lempad's long life, which ended in 1978 after more than a century of prolific achievements.

The authors of this volume use the lack of information to their advantage by drawing readers into the artist's world with anecdotes from individuals who knew him and detailed information about the cultural, historical and religious context within which his work was created.

The result is a uniquely satisfying chronicle that combines the visual riches of Lempad's art with the insightful analysis of the book's authors.   

Reproductions of Lempad's exquisite drawings are accompanied by retellings of the stories, myths and legends on which the images are based.

A remarkable sculpture of the artist's family is accompanied by speculation about how Lempad might have interpreted his ancestral lineage.

A three-page reproduction of Lempad's relief from the Samuan Tiga temple is viewed alongside the stone reliefs of Yeh Pulu that might have inspired the artist near his childhood home in Bedulu.

The depth of contextual detail makes this book much more than just a study of an individual artist.  

Readers are invited to immerse themselves in the creative process as it existed in Lempad's time, and still survives to some extent in Bali today.  

Art is created for the gods with an emphasis on collaboration rather than individual achievement. History, religion, and ancestral relationships are embedded in every line of an artist's work.  

Take for example Lempad's stunning drawing of Twalen, the sacred clown of the shadow-puppet theater.  Twalen is surrounded by representations of legendary characters clothed in elaborate attire.

In contrast, the humble clown is almost naked and defined by only a few simple lines.  He towers over the other figures and supports them on his arms, legs and shoulders, but he himself is embodied on the page by negative space, emphasizing his origins in the invisible world of the gods.  

Twalen's facial features are coarse but his eyes look upward with a penetrating intelligence that reflects the wit he displays in shadow-puppet plays.   

The smaller characters surround him in a configuration that mirrors the nine sacred directions of the nawasangga, which are central to the Balinese understanding of the relationship between humans and the universe at large.  

In a single drawing Lempad illuminates the inner nature of the most complex character in the shadow-puppet repertoire, and his culture's vision of the cosmos.

The rare photographs in this book are equally revealing, particularly those of Lempad in his last years.  

In one haunting black and white image, the aged artist leans on a stone carving of a mythical bird.  

Lempad's skeletal frame seems to be fading away as his flesh merges with the unfinished artwork. His cane lies next to his carving tools. Lempad doesn't use it to hold himself up.  Instead, his sculpture has become his means of support, the vehicle that will help prepare him for his journey to the heavens and insure his immortality on earth.  

Like the photo, this book eloquently confirms the legacy of a man who passed from our world to the one beyond riding on the wings of art.

Lempad: A Timeless Master
By Ana Gaspar, Antonio Casanovas and Jean Couteau
Pictures Publishers, the Netherlands, 2014
314 pages

' Photos Courtesy of Ana Gaspar and Antonio Casanova

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