Dullah, the Presidential Palace Painter Who Spent His Time in Plain Life

Dullah (1919 - 1996)

Dullah was born in Solo in 1919. This self made artist has once admitted that Affandi and S.Soedjojono were his great teachers, but in fact his creations which obviously followed the school of realism were quite divergent to the works of the above two great masters. Since the early days of the independence, Dullah was very close to Soekarno, the first President of the Republic of Indonesia.

He was therefore appointed by Soekarno to take care of all of the President’s art possessions and at the same time as curator of the state painting collections. He often accompanied the president on his trips domestically as well as abroad.

It was Dullah who selected 206 paintings from Soekarno's private collections with China experts that were photographed and then reproduced in the "deluxe" two volumes oversize monograph in a very limited edition print in the People's Republic of China in 1956. The text by Soekarno and Dullah was in four languages: Indonesian, Chinese, English and Russian. Due to the limited edition (only 6000 copies), the two volumes of deluxe monographs were only distributed to selected individuals and art collectors, and the supply did soon run out (The second publication of President Soekarno's art collection was in five volumes, compiled by the painter Lee Man Fong, printed in Japan in deluxe edition, and widely sold and distributed throughout the country).

After no longer in charge as palace artist, Dullah returned back to his hometown Solo and settled there with his family, but spent most of his creative time in Bali together with a group of his pupils. The group settled in Ubud and then moved to Pejeng. Dullah also ran an art gallery in Mas where most of his good works were on display for sales. Many of his paintings were bought by foreign tourists and the local art collectors which made his name widely famous as a prominent realistic artist painter in Indonesia.

At the age of 70, Dullah built his museum in Solo all by his own without any financial succors from the government or other private institutions. This was done as his dedication to the love of art over his creative lifetime. All Dullah's paintings exhibited in this museum are breathtaking in their scope and sensitive in their drama.

In 1996 Dullah peacefully passed away in this place, bequeathing to the next art loving generation to come, his own "one-man-built" museum which now proudly stands as a cultural landmark, open to any visitor with love for the arts.


LOT #4

ARTWORK DETAILS

Title : Grandma Profile

Type : oil on canvass

Dimension : 60 X 50 cm

Year : unknown

Condition : excellent, framed, already varnished and ready to hang.

The above painting was acquired from a reputable official art auction house. There was NO provenance or COA provided. However, to the best of seller’s knowledge, we guarantee that the aforementioned piece is 100 % original and genuinely produced by the said painter as stated.