There is no attempt to sweeten or idealize the subject. This boldness is a direct carry-on portraits of acclaimed Italian peasants cap made before his arrival in Bali. The boy has a noble, behavior self-assured, but there is no classic beauty. Using dark angular contours and dramatic shadows, Bonnet added an element of stylization often seen in modern European art during the first half of the 20th century. Nevertheless, the boy is still a real person breathing, someone we could meet on a street corner, even today.
Like many artists of his time Bonnet adopted the major principle of the Arts and Crafts movement that all art was inspired by nature. So, too, lamented the adverse effects of the industrial revolution. Bonnet sought refuge in Anticoli Corrado, Italy and the artists' village in the northwest of Rome. There he sought inspiration in nature and roots of Western art. His two biggest influences were drawings and Renaissance frescoes. Finally, the village of the same remote artists proved too close to the beast that Bonnet sought a more pristine environment free of modern influence. Bali has been brought to its attention by W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp, another Dutch artist living in Italy, who first visited the island in 1904 and wrote several books about it. Taking his advice Bonnet sailed to the Dutch East Indies in search of his muse and his destiny.
Like his more famous predecessor, the gay German artist Walter Spies, Bonnet decided it was wiser to live in the village of Ubud, a safe distance from the watchful eye of Dutch colonial rule which apart from a few enlightened beings was hopelessly reactionary insofar as the political and social issues were concerned. Both Spies and Bonnet were guests of Cokorda Gede Raka Sukawati, a prominent member of the colonial parliament, who understood that the recruitment of these two men could help him realize his desire to Ubud a major cultural destination.
Although the issue of this report Bonnet had with unnamed son of the priest has no impact on the artistic merit of the work is concerned, it is nevertheless a potentially interesting anecdote that gives a better idea of which Bonnet was and the time he lived. Bonnet was 34 years, not a boy, but not old, and Bali was a magical world where dreams can come true. Unlike the flamboyant Spies, who made little secret of his sexual bias, Bonnet was reserved, even formal. Although his best friend Willem Hofker realized Bonnet was gay, they never mentioned the subject in a "do not ask, do not tell" arrangement. Unlike Spies, no stories Bonnet cavorting with minors men, a habit that would win Spies jail, despite his many friends and connections.
Portraits in which the sitter looks directly at the viewer are rare because they are inherently provocative. When a stranger looks you in the eye most people turn their face rather than recognize the person because the act raises questions about the relationship between the subject and the viewer. The act can be both an invitation for dialogue or confrontation. It is similar to what we experience when we are caught staring at a stranger in public - voyeur! Of course, we do it especially when there is something remarkable - a great beauty or oddness that attracts or repels or both! In Bonnet left work as a real life experience. The artist is long gone, but the boy lives. Bonnet was not a shallow man. He understood that.
In colonial times a native look directly into the eyes of a Westerner was strictly taboo! In the first half of the 19th century, a British officer who visited Bali wrote an article for a cloth colonial Singapore announcing his outrage at the audacity of the Balinese natives who dare walk up to him with curiosity and look in the eye ! In the British colonies such surly chap would surely have been whipped.
This was not the case for everyone. Beginning with Sir Stamford Raffles a growing number of officials and stakeholders have begun to realize that the Balinese sense of independence and pride was a good thing. At one point some have even suggested that Islam had actually placed a debilitating film on the eyes and minds of much more docile Javanese who stared down politely when spoken to a superior. Of course, these assumptions are seriously flawed because the strict hierarchy of Javanese society and often atrocious label can be traced back to the Hindu-Buddhist powerful Empires of Medieval Java. Bali is also far from a universally egalitarian society.
The artwork is also in the tradition of Thomas Hart Benton and Diego Rivera who sought to immortalize the natural nobility and pathos of peasants and the working class. It was an international movement. Bonnet would create big oil murals glorifying as Balinese farmers. While policy is unknown, what we know is that he loved the Balinese and always sought to promote and protect the best he could for over 40 years. Indeed, compared to Spies, which was portrayed time and again as a Lion Grand Bali Bonnet was accused of being pedantic and dry. Yet if one weighs their work and achievements of the long-term impact of Bonnet - Puri Lukisan only proved much more durable than the legendary glamor of his friend
Perhaps the greatest insult of all is the Bonnet representation as the main protagonist in tawdry historical novel Island Nigel Barley demons. Besides being riddled with all kinds of errors, barley has seen fit to introduce Bonnet as a kind of Dutch gay hippie who after being seduced by Spies to a night of romance comes to the realization that it was a blessing Once. For the rest of the new Bonnet pins to support the love of Spies with comic-tragic results. Of course, Mr. Barley channels its own homoerotic fantasies, but his freedom in Bonnet representation is an absolute travesty bordering on libel. Spies and Bonnet were never lovers and are not attracted to the same distance from each other.
Dubbed a "Sunday child" by his family, a reference to a person with a special sensitivity to art and beauty, Bonnet life changed between elation and tragedy especially as he was growing up. in 1938, as Spies, he was under investigation for homosexual activities. During World war II, he was sent to a Japanese prisoner of evil war camp and nearly died of the disease and starvation. After his release, he was unable to return to his beloved Bali, which was seized by violence and revolutionary fervor. When he made many of his old friends were dead or fled the new . order now hitting the average age of his physical condition was vulnerable because of the camp and lasting difficulties - hunger, dysentery, malaria, parasites, all kinds of infections and mold
Yet 62 times he was forced to leave Bali for reasons political reasons in 1957 just after the third repeated refusal to sell a large oil painting to President Sukarno. His return to the Netherlands was equally bleak. The art scene has changed forever. A new generation of young modern artists denounced him as an anachronism. As the nation rebuilds its shattered economy and shed its colonial heritage, few people were interested in Balinese culture.
At the end he was Balinese themselves honored him for his many accomplishments. Passing away in 1978 almost simultaneously with his old friend the Prince Cokorda, its end, however, was glorious. His ashes were returned to Bali and incinerated with those of Cokorda Sukawati Ubud in 1979. As the son of the priest -. No other information is available