Lot 113
Mohd Hoessein Enas, Dato’
b. Indonesia, 1924 - d. Kuala Lumpur, 1995
Learning To Know, 1967
signed and dated (lower left)
oil on masonite board
94 x 68cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Selangor
ESTIMATE RM 50,000 – 80,000
PRICE REALISED RM 61,600.00
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There’s nothing like hands-on learning on home cooking and food preparation from one’s own mother, grandmother or auntie, especially if they make the most scrumptious Kukus or Laksa Johor, or kueh kochi santan, a favourite sweet snack among all the races. It’s made from kneaded gelatinous rice dough stuffed with grated coconut and palm sugar wrapped in slightly scalded folded banana leaves. Girls of marriageable age during Dato’ Hoessein Enas’ time would have better chances of better suitors if they are also skilled in cooking, besides looks and compatibility. The gorgeous demure girl is concentrating on the wrapping...
Trust Malaysia to have one of the most flamboyant of pioneer artists in Indonesian-born Hoessein Enas, whose chequered life involved resistance against the Dutch colonial masters, printing own legal currency, and escape in the rough seas from Java to Singapore. In art, Dato’ Hoessein formed the Angkatan Pelukis Semenanjung (later SeMalaysia), based on a similar society he helped form in Indonesia. He was granted Malaysian citizenship in 1956. He was made a ‘royal’ painter in Selangor (1990) and awarded the ‘Dato’ title (1991). He won the UNESCO Fellowship / Asian Foundation grant (1960) and the Colombo Plan (1968). He was given a Retrospective by the National Art Gallery Kuala Lumpur in 1966.
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