23
Chemins d'artistes
en indonésie
Artist journeys
in Indonesia
She adds, “One day she said to me, ‘Tika, what a pity I had only one daughter who has many children! Otherwise, if you were a boy, you could have had a similar career as an artist like your father.‘ Then she asked me, ‘In the future who is going to take care of the museum if your father passes away? Who is going to follow in your father’s footsteps as an artist?’ Poor Mamie, she worried too much. I’ve kept her words close to me for so many years, just to remind myself what I do to make her happy. I thank her for giving me the tears that woke me up to be a creative woman. I miss her so much.”
Ibu Kartika’s mother, the late Ibu Maryati Affandi, also discovered that part of herself was an artist, which took shape after being immersed in an artistic environment and while travelling with her husband. She also posed as a model for Affandi’s artworks from 1933 to 1944. Ibu Maryati later studied art on her own, specializing in embroidery and art naïf.
It was from 1949 to 1951 that Ibu Kartika got own her first taste of foreign culture when she traveled to India with her parents. During this time, she attended the Tagore University Art School in Shantiniketan and it was the period when her father made his transition from using a paintbrush to painting directly with his fingers and his hands as a palette to mix colors, techniques that Ibu Kartika would also adapt.
At age 18, she fell in love and married artist Sapto Hudoyo. The same year, she decided to attend a course at the Polytechnic School of Art in London. “However, I was not able to concentrate on my artwork because I was too young and I had a baby to take care of,” Ibu Kartika now reminisces from her home in the village of Pakem, 20 kilometers from Indonesia’s vibrant, cultural city of Yogyakarta.
Although she was deeply involved with family life in Indonesia with the Mother part of herself and raising eight children – the youngest, Didit Budi Karyawan, is now a painter himself - the Artist in her would inspire her to create oil paintings, watercolors or paper sketches when she had the time. Whether in a busy marketplace or in the quiet countryside, Ibu Kartika always preferred to carry out her artwork directly on the spot, and she often painted with her father.
She participated in her first joint exhibition in 1957 with 7 other women painters in Yogyakarta, and in 1966 she received an invitation from the French government to visit museums, art centers and historical sites in France. She also participated in other joint and solo exhibitions in the 1960s and in 1970, including at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, and the National Art Gallery in Bangkok and in the Netherlands. Ibu Kartika’s first solo exhibition took place in Jakarta in 1969 at the Indonesia-America Institute, followed by the Samat Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur and the Malay Art Gallery in Singapore in 1971.
À 18 ans, elle tombe amoureuse et se marie avec l’artiste indonésien Sapto Hudoyo. La même année, elle décide d’entrer à l’Ecole Polytechnique des Beaux-Arts de Londres. « Par contre, ce fut une période difficile pour moi au niveau de ma concentration artistique car j’étais beaucoup trop jeune et je devais m’occuper de mon bébé », se rappelle aujourd’hui Ibu Kartika depuis sa maison dans le village de Pakem, à 20 kilometres de Yogyakarta, une des villes culturelles et animées d’Indonésie.
Bien qu’elle se soit consacrée entièrement à sa vie de famille lors de son retour en Indonésie influencée par la part Mère en elle en s’occupant notamment de ses huit enfants – le plus jeune, Didit Budi Karyawan, est aujourd’hui peintre – sa part Artiste l’a incitée à créer des peintures à l’huile, des aquarelles ou des dessins durant son temps libre. Sur un marché parmi la foule ou bien dans la campagne au calme, Ibu Kartika a toujours préféré travailler ses œuvres sur le vif. Dans sa jeunesse, elle peignait souvent en compagnie de son père.
Elle a participé à sa première exposition collective en 1957 avec sept autres femmes peintres à Yogyakarta, et puis en 1966, elle a reçu une invitation du gouvernement français pour venir visiter des musées, des centres culturels et des monuments historiques. Elle a participé aussi à d’autres expositions collectives et individuelles dans les années 1960 et 1970, comme au Musée d’Art Moderne de Rio de Janeiro, à la Galerie Nationale d’Art à Bangkok et aux Pays-Bas. Sa première exposition individuelle eut lieu en 1969 à l’Institut Indonésie-Amériques, suivi d’une exposition à la Galerie Samat au Kuala Lumur et à la Galerie Malay à Singapour en 1971.
Kartika Affandi, A Dog & Puppies / Une chienne & chiots, 1961
Oil on canvas / Huile sur toile
65 x 85 cm
Art & Inspiration
© Kartika Affandi