Lot 130
Ibrahim Hussein, Datuk
b. Kedah, 1936 - d. Kuala Lumpur, 2009
Honeymoon, 1974
signed and dated (lower left)
acrylic on paper
28 x 37cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Selangor
ESTIMATE RM 30,000 – 50,000
PRICE REALISED RM 20,000.00
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In the 1970s, Datuk Ibrahim Hussein produced a series of works fusing figures as tumbling torsos in suggestive couplings ore simulating a symbolic journey. Ib, as the artist is popularly known, has partly explained his figures to art-writer Ooi Kok Chuen, in an interview: “Life is a Monorobos, of human beings passing from one entanglement to another.” (New Sunday Times, March 13, 1986). It was a time when he was a resident artist at Universiti Malaya (Fifth College, 1971-1978).
The artwork was given by Ib to his friend who was staying at the same Fifth College, as a congratulatory gift, wishing the newly-wed couple happy marriage and honeymoon. Thus, this artwork titled Honeymoon is of embalming hazy ambience and noctural tryst. To lovers, the night is always young as they whisper sweet nothings to each other’s ear, but then the start of a commitment to a relationship is always fraught with imponderables. There is the silhouette of the moon again, as a witness to the union as well as a spiritual protector.
Datuk Ibrahim Hussein is the most internationally high-profiled with international decorations to boot: The Japan Foundation Cultural Award (1981), Venezuela’s Order of Andres Bello (1993), Chile’s Order of Bernardo O. Higgins (1996) and the highly prestigious World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award (1997). He founded the Ibrahim Hussein Museum in Langkawi, launched in 2000, but it had closed because of mounting high maintenance. He captured celebrity status when he was selected to exhibit with Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali at the Dhalat Abdulla Al-Salam Gallery in Kuwait in 1977. He was accorded a Retrospective by the National Art Gallery Malaysia in 1986. He was educated at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting in London (1963) and the Royal Academy (1966) in London. He visited the United States on a Fulbright scholarship (1967) and the John D. Rockefeller III Fund fellowship (1967-68). |