First European Artist in Bali
In 1904, when most of Bali still ruled by native princes and wrapped in medieval splendor little touched by the outside, W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp, the first foreign artist to visits Bali, landed on the north coast of this little-known island with a bicycle and an irrepressible lust for adventure. The bicycle proved useless as the island had few suitable roads but today it becomes the only testimony to Nieuwenkamp’s visit to Bali, immortalized in the image of a man riding a bicycle on the wall of Meduwe Karang Temple in North Bali.
Nieuwkamp was an adventurer, explorer, ethnologist, art collector and who fell deeply in love with the “Island of the Gods” and its people in spite of their terrible reputation as warlike heathens. Nieuwenkamp, nicknamed “the Wanderer” by friends and admirers, armed with paper and pen, explored the island by foot, outrigger, and sometimes on the small, sturdy, local horse, he investigated hints and stories from all source imaginable. Despite countless obstacles – repeatedly facing now-extinct man-eating Balinese tiger, floods, disease, opium addicts and the intrigue of Bali’s royal courts and colonial politics, etc – he accomplished his mission truly to immerse himself in Bali. besides meeting with numerous members of Balinese royal families and visiting almost every famous temples, attending rituals, temple anniversaries, conducting ethnological and archeological researches and recorded numerous details of Balinese art and architecture of the era.
He was also an eyewitness of tragic Puputan in 1906 during the fall of South Bali. devastated, he wrote a letter protesting glorious invasion and its infamous victory and wandered around the ruin of South Bali alone on foot, when no officer of Dutch Colonial Army dared travel with less than fifty guards, he was also salvaging the remain of splendid South Bali works of art.
More than one thousand artwork, three major books and scores of other publications were the fruits of his hard work and dedication. He certainly used, the fair island of Bali to advanced is own career but his love and admiration for Bali are clearly signified in his art.
Materials for this writing are taken from “W.O.J. NIEUWENKAMP: First European Artist in Bali” by Bruce W. Carpenter
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