Classical Balinese Paintings: Nyoman Gunarsa Museum

The collection at Nyoman Gunarsa's Museum of Classical Balinese Painting at Klungkung is unmatched in Bali or in Indonesia.

Nyoman Gunarsa's overriding concern is to rescue ancient items from oblivion so that Balinese and other Indonesians know their own cultural history, a tradition also of interest to foreign visitors. He has scoured Indonesia and the world to amass his collection.

The three storeys of displays feature fine and bold antique paintings used in temple ceremonies or as decorations at palaces or the homes of the wealthy made at a time when the characters were dramatically real to the artists. The paintings are rooted in the great Indian epics the Mahabharata and the Ramayana and imagery from these and other classical stories came to influence not only painting but architecture, wood carving and stone sculpture. The stories were told and retold using leather Wayang puppets and the museum features a number of "ancestral" sets characterized by extraordinarily fine workmanship

Items of everyday use ranging from the famous kris or curved dagger to the incredible sounding Balinese orchestra, the gamelan, are displayed in the collection if they are particularly old, unique or fine.

This is a museum where the history of Bali throbs with life, an electricity reflected in the paintings of maestro Nyoman Gunarsa, ranked as one of Indonesia's most famous living painters and an artistic ambassador for his country, many times awarded by his government.

Hardcover with dust jacket

Book condition: Very Good. Light general wear to covers plus light dust stains to edges of page-block. Otherwise internally very clean

Dust Jacket condition: Very Good. Jacket has light general wears plus a previous owner's label to rear.

Author: Richard Mann

Dimensions: 21 x 26 cm

Print length: 206 Pages

Language: English

Publication date: 2006

Publishers: Nyoman Gunarsa Museum of Classical Balinese Painting, Gateway Books International

ISBN:‎ 9799985358