Theo Meier

“A Balinese woman with offerings” (1936)

1936

Ida Bagoes Ketut Diding, Artist on bali 1937 Signed with initials, dated and titled, bottom centre Black chalk on paper, 29 x 31 cm Literature: Ernst Braches en J.F. Heijbroek, W....

Four outrigger proa’s on the beach of Kusambe, Bali, 1937 Signed with initials, dated and described with location bottom left Pencil and ink on paper, 29.7 x 35 cm In ebonized frame with white mount WILLEM OTTO WIJNAND NIEUWENKAMP (1874-1950) Nieuwenkamp was born on July 27th 1874 in Amsterdam. His father owned sailing ships sailing to Indonesia and hearing the stories of the returning captains evoked in the young Nieuwenkamp an obsession for distant lands and adventure. After a failed attempt by his father to have his son make a career in his business, Nieuwenkamp attended the Academy for Decorative Art in Amsterdam. However, he left within one year to go his own way. He was an autodidact and a great experimenter with new techniques, particularly in the art of etching. Nieuwenkamp was a very focused man with the discipline of a scientist tempered by the sensitivity of an artist, a lust for adventure, a natural appreciation for ethnic arts and an enormous ambition to tread new paths. In 1898 he visited Indonesia for the first time and on his second visit in 1903-1904 he went on to Bali and became the first foreign artist to love Bali and the Balinese with a passion. Having secured agreements with several museums in the Netherlands to obtain Balinese art and objects for their collections, Nieuwenkamp immediately started to purchase and order a wide range of ethnographic art and objects from local artists and craftsmen. Through his drawings and books, he gave an excellent impression of Balinese art and culture at that time. Since 1854 Northern Bali was under Dutch...

Theo Meier (1908-1982) “A Balinese woman with offerings” Signed, dated '36 and annotated Mankok (the name of the sitter) lower left Sanguine on paper, measures: 57 x 41.5 cm In a handmade and hand painted frame with address: Max Kno¨ll, Herberggasse 4/1, Basel. Provenance: Private collection, Basel (acquired directly from the artist) Private collection, London Note: Theo Meier was born in Basel, where he attended art school and became a successful portrait painter. However, after visiting an exhibition in Basel of Tahitian paintings by Paul Gaugin, he decided to follow in Gaugin’s footsteps and go to the South Pacific. To finance his voyage, he founded a club in which every member pledged a monthly sum in return of which they could choose one of Meier’s paintings upon his return. In 1932, at the age of 24, he embarked on his voyage to the South Sea. In Tahiti, he certainly discovered the beauty of the colours of the tropical world but the simplicity of the inhabitants, he had seen in Gaugin’s paintings turned out to be more in the artist’s fantasy than in reality. He returned to Basel but in 1935 again was on his way to the South Sea. In 1936 he arrived in Bali, planning to stay there for two or three weeks, but thirty years later he was still there. In Bali “a delirium laid hold of me which even today has not subsided”, he was to write much later. The present drawing was made during his first “delirius” year in Bali. In Bali, he settled and found inspiration and friendship with other artists including Walter Spies...

Balinese women is an original contemporary artwork realized in the second half of 20th century. A mixed colored tempera on paper. Hand signed on the lower right margin: "IMD Gronding Peneszanana Ubud...