Lot 44: Mythological scene from the Ramayana

Hendrik Paulides (DUTCH, 1892-1967)
Mythological scene from the Ramayana
signed and dated 'HP 35' (lower left)
oil on canvas
110 x 60 cm.

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In the early stages of his career Paulides was clearly dominated by his teachers Dake and Derkinderen and well-known contemporaries such as Toorop, Konijnenburg and Thorn Prikker. Although he did not settle in the Dutch East Indies for a long period of time his two journeys in 1922 and 1929 left a lasting impression on him. Unlike other Orientalists who depicted primarily the visual beauty of the East Indies and its inhabitants Paulides was able to also reflect the spirit of the people. He intertwined the physical radiance of dancers, fruit sellers or oarsmen with their spiritual, religious and mythological background. He had an intense fascination for the lives and beliefs of the people of the East Indies.

The present lot shows a Ramayana scene, depicting a dancing warrior in a halo of light framed by dancing masks and admiring bystanders. In a series of paintings created in 1949, Paulides fell back on the theme of the present lot. He practically painted an enlargement of a detail. His fascination with East Indian mythology culminates in a series of murals which he produces a year later for the Colonial Institute in Amsterdam.
(Peter E.M. Hammann, Singapore 1997)

To be sold with the book by Peter E.M. Hamman, Hendrik Paulides , Singapore 1997.