INDONESIAN ODYSSEY: A Private Journey Through Indonesia's Most Renowned Fine Art Collections
By Helena Spanjaard
Photography by Kurniawan Wiguna

It is well-known that Indonesia is blessed with very rich and varied cultural traditions. From Aceh in West to Papua in the East, one finds spectacular creativity expressed through song, dance and in particular, art. It is only in recent years that the international art market has awakened to these treasures created throughout the archipelago, but due to the scarcity of well-developed and properly-maintained public museums, the majority of these masterpieces are obtained by private collectors for their homes. This results in scores of private museums scattered around the country where the treasures are carefully preserved in the notoriously humid tropical climate. In the past, the only way to view these artworks would be via a personal invitation to these private homes. This book, Indonesian Odyssey, opens the doors to these collections for the world to see and enjoy.

Dr. Helena Spanjaard, one of Indonesia’s most respected art historians, has gained unprecedented access to twenty-one of the country’s most avid collectors, gathering extraordinary insight into their collecting history and philosophy. Indonesian Odyssey profiles each collector and walks the reader through their favorite pieces, assembling an unparalleled anthology of more than 100 artists: from local masters such as Affandi and Hendra Gunawan, and their Indo-European counterparts like Rudolf Bonnet and Willem Hofker; to leaders of the contemporary movement like Rudi Mantofani and I Nyoman Masriadi.

Lavishly illustrated with full-color reproductions of more than 230 paintings, Indonesian Odyssey provides a comprehensive catalog of Indonesian art and is a required resource for all collectors – both those with established collections and those just embarking on their own individual journey.

About the author
Dr. Helena Spanjaard is a Dutch art historian based in Amsterdam. Since 1980 she has been active in the field of modern and contemporary Indonesian painting as a writer, researcher, and curator of several exhibitions (Indonesian Modern Art since 1945, De Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, 1993; Reformasi Indonesia!, Museum Nusantara, Delft, 2000). Her dissertation, The ideal of modern Indonesian painting: the creation of a national cultural identity, 1900-1995, was published in 1998 by Leiden University.

Besides numerous articles her publications include the monograph Widayat: The Magical Mysticism of a Modern Indonesian Artist (Museum H. Widayat, 1998), Modern Indonesian Painting (Sotheby’s, 2003), Exploring Modern Indonesian Art: The Collection of Dr. Oei Hong Djien (SNP International, Singapore, 2004) and Pioneers of Balinese Painting: The Rudolf Bonnet Collection (KIT, Amsterdam, 2007).