Puri Lukisan Ubud

Jalan Raya Ubud tergolong kecil, hanya cukup untuk dua jalur mobil, sehingga ramai apalagi di sana ada pasar, teater, warung internet, persewaan sepeda, dan bermacam kedai. Suasananya enak. Bau kemenyan terasa lembut. Dekat pasar terdapat sebuah museum penting bernama Puri Lukisan – tempat orang bisa merenung dan mengagumi karya-karya klasik seniman Bali.

Ada lukisan dinding karya I Gusti Nyoman Lempad. Ukurannya raksasa. Beberapa bagiannya rusak. Warnanya kalah melawan waktu. Di dalam ada karya Anak Agung Gede Meregeg, Bima mencari arwah ibu dan bapaknya (1939). Inilah Puri Lukisan. Ada mitologi Bali. Ada Bima. Garuda, Leak, dan bermacam cerita wayang. Tapi juga ada gambar gadis-gadis muda bertelanjang dada, mandi di kolam.

Menurut Jean Couteau, seorang peneliti-cum-sastrawan Prancis, dalam buku Museum Puri Lukisan, koleksi Puri Lukisan merupakan saksi mata pembaruan seni lukis dan seni patung Bali.

Pembaruan ini terjadi pada masa Hindia Belanda. Seniman Bali hingga abad ke-19 berkesenian untuk melayani keperluan ritual agama atau aristokrasi. Ketika kerajaan-kerajaan Bali ditaklukkan Belanda, maka pengaruh orang asing pun pelan-pelan masuk ke Bali. Kolonialisme membuat kesenian Bali berubah. Seni ini pun makin marak dengan berkembangnya turisme Bali pada 1920-an.

“Sekarang koleksinya lebih dari 200 lembar lukisan, patungnya mungkin ada 80-an,” kata Tjokorda Bagus Astika, direktur Museum Puri Lukisan. Koleksinya kebanyakan dikumpulkan Rudolf Bonnet. Bicara Puri Lukisan memang harus bicara tentang Bonnet, Walter Spies, maupun Tjokorda Agung Sukawati – tiga serangkai yang berperan besar dalam pembaruan seni rupa Bali.

Walter Spies kelahiran Moskow 1895 dari sebuah keluarga Jerman. Pada 1923 Spies pergi melihat Hindia Belanda dan sempat bekerja sebagai musikus di keraton Yogyakarta. Di sana Spies bertemu seorang pangeran dari Ubud bernama Tjokorda Raka Sukawati – anggota Volksraad yang pernah belajar di Paris dan beristrikan perempuan Prancis. Si pangeran mengundang Spies ke Ubud dan memperkenalkan adiknya, Tjokorda Gede Agung Sukawati. Merasa cocok, Spies memutuskan menetap di kota kecil ini.

Dalam beberapa tahun saja Spies dianggap sebagai orang non-Bali yang paling tahu soal Bali. Dia jadi kolektor serangga, pengarah musik, konsultan pembuatan film, menciptakan koreografi –termasuk tari Kecak – menulis artikel dan buku, serta membantu pengembangan seni rupa Bali.

Spies membuka pintu rumahnya untuk tamu mancanegara yang mulai berdatangan ke Bali. Seorang di antaranya Rudolf Bonnet dari keluarga Belanda keturunan Huguenot (orang Prancis beragama Protestan).

Kehadiran dua seniman Eropa ini membuat gerakan pembaruan seni Bali mendapat momentum besar. Spies dan Bonnet menyediakan materi dan teknik baru. Spies menjadikan rumahnya untuk melatih 12-15 anak muda Bali melukis. Tiga sekawan itu juga membantu pemasarannya.

Pada 1936 mereka mendirikan perkumpulan Pita Maha. Nama ini diambil dari bahasa Kawi kuno yang artinya “nenek moyang luhur.” Ketuanya Ida Bagus Putu dan komite artistiknya Tjokorda Agung, Bonnet, Spies, dan Lempad. Keanggotaannya tersebar pada semua sentra kesenian Bali: desa Peliatan, Padangtegal, Pengosekan, Mas, Nyuhkuning, Batuan, Sanur, Klungkung, dan Celuk. Anggotanya 120-150 seniman.

Tiap minggu pengurus bertemu di rumah Spies. Mereka menyelenggarakan pameran di Batavia, Bandung, Medan, Palembang, Surabaya, maupun Belanda, Paris, New York, Nagoya. Pendek kata, pembaruan seni Bali ini membuat publik kesenian dunia kagum – setara dengan kekaguman terhadap kesenian dari Cina, Jepang, maupun India. Kekuatan anatomis Lempad jadi termasyhur di seluruh negeri.

Perang Dunia II meletus. Spies dikeluarkan dari Pita Maha dengan tuduhan terlibat homoseksualisme. Bonnet protes dan mundur dari Pita Maha. Masuknya tentara Jepang membuat kegiatan Pita Maha berhenti. Beberapa seniman menghimpun diri dalam Golongan Pelukis Ubud. Pada 1942 Pita Maha dibubarkan.

Spies dan Bonnet ditahan pasukan Jepang. Malang nasib Spies, kapal yang membawanya pulang ke Jerman, tenggelam terkena torpedo Jepang dekat perairan Srilanka. Bonnet ditahan di Makassar tapi berhasil kembali ke Bali sesudah kemerdekaan Indonesia.

Masa revolusi dimanfaatkan Bonnet untuk riset, mendidik pelukis muda, dan mengumpulkan koleksi Pita Maha. Cita-cita membangun museum bersama Tjokorda Agung dihidupkan lagi.

Mereka membeli sebidang tanah dekat puri keluarga Sukawati. Pada 1953 terbentuklah Yayasan Ratna Wartha dengan tujuan membangun museum. Pada Januari 1954 Perdana Menteri Ali Sastroamidjojo, yang kebetulan teman dekat Tjokorda Agung, datang ke Ubud dan meletakkan batu pertama pembangunan museum.

Donasi pun mengalir dari pemerintah Indonesia, lembaga kebudayaan Belanda Sticusa, serta Ford Foundation. Dua tahun kemudian museum itu diresmikan Menteri Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Muhammad Yamin. Nama "Puri Lukisan" yang artinya istana karya lukis, diciptakan Yamin.

Bonnet dan Tjokorda Agung meninggal pada 1978. Jenasah mereka di-ngaben-kan bersama pada 1979. Tapi Puri Lukisan maupun museum lain di Ubud tetap menarik minat seniman dari daerah lain, termasuk Affandi, S. Sudjojono, Dullah, maupun negara lain, untuk menggali ide serta belajar.

Adrien Le Mayeur (1880-1968): Bermain

Naskah saya ini dimuat, tanpa byline, dalam buku Menyambut Indonesia: Limapuluh Tahun bersama Ford Foundation 1953-2003. Saya bikin liputan di Ubud selama seminggu. Bahan-bahannya jauh lebih banyak dari yang bisa muncul dengan dua halaman buku. Musium lukisan Adrien Le Mayeur terletak di Sanur. Le Mayeur pindah ke Bali sejak 1932.

A Palace for the Arts in Ubud

Along the narrow main road in Ubud are markets, a theater, internet cafes, bike rentals and eateries. The atmosphere is relaxed, and the scent of incense from temples wafts on the winds.

Puri Lukisan ("palace of painting"), near the market, houses a significant collection of historic Balinese paintings. Here, the myths of Bali are on display. Bima is present. So is Garuda, and a witch, and several figures from the wayang. But there are also pictures of bare-breasted maidens bathing in a pool. Unfortunately, some of the paintings have deteriorated over time. Jean Couteau, researcher and author, says in his book Museum Puri Lukisan that the collection bears witness to the renewal of the arts of painting and sculpture in Bali. Until the 19th century, Balinese artists worked exclusively to serve the needs of religious institutions and the aristocracy. The Dutch colonial influence, however, created conditions for the opening up of Balinese arts, which then were further encouraged by the development of tourism in the 1920s.

"The collection now consists of more than 200 paintings, and maybe 80 pieces of sculpture," says the director, Tjokorda Bagus Astika. Most of these works were originally collected by Rudolf Bonnet. Any discussion of the museum must mention Bonnet, Walter Spies, and Tjokorda Agung Sukawati, each of whom played a significant role in the renewal of Balinese fine arts.

Walter Spies was born in Moscow in 1895 into a family of German descent. In 1923 he travelled to the Netherlands East Indies, where he worked for a while as a musician in the Yogyakarta kraton. There, Spies met a prince from Ubud, Tjokorda Raka Sukawati, a member of the Volksraad who had studied for a while in France and who was married to a French woman. The prince invited Spies to Ubud and introduced him to his younger brother, Tjokorda Gede Agung Sukawati. Spies decided to spend some time in the small town.

Over a period of several years, Spies came to be known as the foremost non-Balinese authority on Balinese culture. He was variously an insect collector, a composer, a film production consultant, an author of books and articles, a patron of the arts, and a choreographer — he was the first to arrange the now-famous kecak dance as a secular performance. Spies opened up his house to guests from abroad, including Rudolf Bonnet, a Dutchman of Huguenot ancestry.

These two European artists gave added momentum to the renewal of the Balinese arts. Spies and Bonnet provided artists with materials and instructed them in new techniques. Spies himself oversaw the training of 12 to 15 young painters in his own house. He also helped them market their work.

In 1936 the Pita Maha association was established. This name, which was taken from ancient Kawi, means "honored ancestors." The association was headed by Ida Bagus Putu, while the artistic committee included Tjokorda Agung, Bonnet, Spies, and the painter I Gusti Nyoman Lempad. The association became established in art centers around Bali, and involved between 120 and 150 artists.

Each week, committee members met at Spies' house. The association sponsored exhibitions in Batavia (now Jakarta), Bandung, Medan, Palembang, Surabaya, and abroad in the Netherlands, Paris, New York, and Nagoya. Bali became established as an artistic center equal to China, Japan, and India. Lempad, in particular, became acknowledged around the world as a major artist. And then, World War II broke out. Accused of sexual misconduct, Spies was expelled from Pita Maha. Bonnet protested and also withdrew from the association.

In 1942, Pita Maha was dissolved. Spies and Bonnet were arrested by Japanese troops. Sadly, during his return to Germany, Spies' boat was torpedoed and sank off Sri Lanka. Bonnet was held in Makassar but eventually returned to Bali after Indonesian independence. He used the revolutionary period to do research, train young painters, and collect the works of Balinese painters. He revived his plans to establish a museum in company with Tjokorda Agung.

They purchased land near Tjokorda Agung's family seat in Sukawati. In 1953, the Ratna Wartha Foundation was established to develop the museum. In January 1954, Prime Minister Ali Sastroamidjojo, a close friend of Tjokorda Agung, came to Ubud to lay the cornerstone. Donations flowed from the Indonesian government, from the Dutch cultural association Sticusa, and from the Ford Foundation. Two years later, the museum was inaugurated by Minister for Education and Culture Muhammad Yamin. The name "Puri Lukisan" was coined by Yamin.

Bonnet and Tjokorda Agung died in 1978. Their remains were cremated in a shared ceremony in 1979. Puri Lukisan continues to attract the interest of artists from other areas, including such notable figures as Affandi, S. Sudjojono, Dullah, and many from abroad. These artists come to study in Ubud and to find inspiration from one of the finest collections of Balinese art in existence.

Adrien Le Mayeur (1880-1968): Bermain

I wrote this piece, without a byline, for the book Celebrating Indonesia: Fifty Years with the Ford Foundation 1953-2003. It was published in 2003. I did many interviews and research in Ubud for the two-page story. I also researched Le Mayeur's paintings in his museum in Sanur. Le Mayeur made Bali his home in 1932.