Lot 86
MOHD HOESSEIN ENAS, DATO'
b. Indonesia, 1924 - d. Kuala Lumpur, 1995
MORNING MIST 4, 1991-92
Signed and dated ‘HOESSEIN enas - ‘91-’92’ lower right
Oil on canvas
75.5cm x 101cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Penang
LITERATURE
Pioneers of Malaysian Art, Dr. Tan Chee Khuan,
The Art Gallery, Penang, 1994, illustrated on page 338.
ESTIMATE RM 75,000 - 100,000
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The Morning Mist series reputedly numbering only five is one of the most compelling of Dato’ Hoessein Enas’s oeuvre. It drew inspiration from his Indonesian idol Basoeki Abdullah (1915 to1993) as much as from Rembrandt van Rijn’s (1606 to 1609), both of whom had worked on the subject of nubile damsels bathing by the waterfall. Hoessein shows a sexy siren in wet sarung accentuating her figure. She is seated on a low rock on the left edge while gushing sprays of water flow down to the right where there is a cliff precipice. The girl on the rock seductively holds on to her half-exposed legs with one hand, with the other hand sweeping back her soaked long hair as she casts a coquettish look at the viewer. In the background are two other girls who are obscured, not displaying the same seductiveness that is evident in the main subject matter.
Enas defines the Malaysian portrait tradition in the immediate post-Independence years, and the Angkatan Pelukis Semenanjung (later SeMalaysia) he set up in 1956 was the main vehicle in promoting figurative art. He was the President from its inception until 1964 when he passed on the mantle to his protégé, Mazli Mat Som. It was based on a similar group he co-founded in Indonesia called Angkatan Seni Rupa Indonesia (ASRI) in Medan in 1944 and he was also its first President. He was conferred ‘Royal Portrait Painter’ status in 1990 by the Sultan of Selangor, who gave him a ‘Dato’ title the next year. One of the freedom fighters from Indonesia, he escaped to Malaysia and was officially made a citizen in 1956. That year, he won the UNESCO Fellowship and an Asia Foundation Grant for a year study tour around the world to observe art development. He was also the recipient of US Fellowship in 1969, Colombo Plan in1968 and 1976. He was honoured with a retrospective exhibition by the National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur in 1966.
REFERENCE
The Life and Art of Dato’ M. Hoessein Enas, The Art Gallery, Penang, 1999.
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