Lot 032
MOHD HOSSEIN ENAS, DATO'
b. Indonesia, 1924 - d. Kuala Lumpur, 1995
MEK YAM, 1966
Signed and dated ‘HOESSEIN 66’ (lower right)
Pastel on paper
55cm x 43cm
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Australia.
ESTIMATE RM 25,000 - 40,000
PRICE REALISED RM 35,840
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Celebrated master portrait painter Dato’ Mohd. Hoessein Enas appears at Henry Butcher Art Auctioneers auction after a two year hiatus, gathering the interests of discerning collectors. Featured here is a pastel on paper portrait of an attractive looking young woman of Malay descent. The artist’s mastery in the medium is evident in the rendering of her flawless youthful skin and the folds of her scarf and sleeves. Her dark locks are tied in a ponytail revealing a dark jade green earring on one ear. Dated 1966, this museumquality piece hails from a private collection in Australia and has been kept in pristine condition.
Dato’ Mohd. Hoessein Enas co-founded Angkatan Seni Rupa Indonesia in Medan and was its first president in 1944. He moved to Penang in 1948 and later to Kuala Lumpur when Frank Sullivan spotted him painting at Ayer Itam Temple. He received citizenship by the Federation of Malaya in 1956 and in the same year, he became the founder of Angkatan Pelukis Semenanjung (later SeMalaysia) in 1956 that he led until 1964. He was granted a UNESCO Fellowship and an Asia Foundation Grant in 1960, which allowed him a year of worldwide study tour to observe various countries’ development in art. Other grants included United States Fellowship (1968) and Colombo Plan Award (1968, 1976). He held his first solo exhibition at Charniel Gallery in Chelsea, London in 1960 and was honoured with a retrospective exhibition by National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur in 1966. He became a member of board for the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur from 1980 to 1989 and was conferred with the title of Royal Portrait Painter by His Majesty, the Sultan of Selangor in 1990. He received the title ‘Dato’ by the Sultan of Selangor the following year.
REFERENCE
Pioneer Artists of Malaysia: Paintings of Pioneer Artists from Private Collections, Dr. Tan Chee Khuan, 1992.
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