Boestaman Raden Saleh (1807-1880 c.)
An original photograph of Raden Saleh - Courtesy of Galerie Bartele
This photo well known Raden Saleh, "first" of the Western-style painter Indonesia was taken in 1870 when he was at the height of his glory. Sitting on a neo-Gothic high chair with ease, the artist turns away from an art book he reads and looks directly at us with his large, deep eyes. Dapperly dressed in military uniform, including a jacket embroidered short officer swirl golden wire and wearing impeccably polished shoes, his only concession to his country is his Javanese blangkon headgear.
Although Raden Saleh himself presented as a Javanese prince and was probably born in a minor royal place, his claims to be a descendant of a great royal line seems to have been shaky at best. Husen's son Sayyid bin Alwi bin Yahya Awal bin, a Yemeni Arab immigrant, that he took the name, Boestaman, the family of his mother suggests that the marriage was short-lived or may not have existed .
What is certain is that Raden Saleh was smart, talented and ambitious. He also had a talent to enter the circle of whites normally only of the colonial elite at a time when the natives rarely had to do much more than the bow and obey. While still young, he sought the famous colonial painter AJ Payen in Bogor and convinced him to take him as an apprentice. In 1829, when only 20, he received a grant from the Dutch colonial government to travel to Holland and studied under Cornelius Kruseman he learned the art of portrait-making would become his bread and butter . His second teacher Andries Schelfhout teach him the art of making landscapes for which he was so famous. He also loved the circus and large wild cats, which have been regularly featured in his paintings, often dramatic battles and hunting.
The combination of excellent painting skills and exotic, polite, charming, native who was also a brilliant conversationalist in several languages was an immediate success. Presented as a foreign prince, he gained access, and recommendations easier to a royal court after another. The life of an itinerant artist wandering from one palace to another suited him well. He hit his first in 1839-32 when he worked as an official court painter Ernst I, Grand Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha for five years.
Only the return to Indonesia in 1851 after more than 20 years abroad, the successful artist was met like a conquering hero. Here he keep doing portraits for the Javanese princes colonial elite and rich, which he, like his brothers. At this stage of the veracity of the claims were irrelevant. Raden Saleh, as one of the few Indonesians to succeed in the world of the white man, was a celebrity and maintenance of the city. Indonesia. His major contribution to Jakarta was building a rather sumptuous neo-Gothic mansion with a large garden in Cikini. Now located on the street that bears his name, the main building is now an office in the hospital and home building. His most famous painting depicts the surrender of Diponegoro, the Javanese prince who led a rebellion against Dutch colonial rule in the 1820s Another painting, an allegory of the defeat of Diponegoro, is victorious roaring lion (symbol Dutch coat of arms) with a Javanese broken spear in his shoulder.
Raden Saleh, whose policy we can only guess, will not pass in 1880 after returning from a short trip to Europe. As we can see in the pathos in the eyes of the photo, he was a man of many experiences that had bridged the gap between East and West at a time when this was considered impossible. Today it is recognized as the first Indonesian artist and his paintings are the pride of the nation regardless of the authenticity of his royal pretensions.