Willem Gerard Hofker (1902-1981) was well-known for depicting Balinese beauty. He was a talented portraittist, with a gift for conveying the sitter’s soul in a few brush strokes. However, painting portraits in Bali proved a major shift for him, considering the rather stiff and official portraits of European nobility, and even the Dutch Queen, he had been commissioned to do in the early and mid-1930s. Like so many contemporaries, his free work intended to express more than just status in jaw-dropping dimensions.

The current lot is a refined representation of his free work in Bali, which would arguably become the most inspired, sought-after part of his oeuvre. Part of a Dutch lady’s collects ion for over 35 years, it was acquired directly from Willem Hofker by her mother-in-law. Ni Njeloen is a completely market-fresh Balinese oil painting by Hofker, of which less than 90 are known.

Born in 1902, and trained at Academies of Replica Handbags s in The Hague and Amsterdam, Willem Hofker won second prize at the Prix de Rome in 1924, and became a well-known artist in the Netherlands. Hofker is mostly known for the body of work he made in Bali, where he and his wife Maria lived from 1938 until 1943. Having gone through the horror of war and Japanese camps, Willem and Maria returned to the Netherlands in 1946.

During his early Balinese years, Hofker still lived a carefree life, surrounded by his favourite themes; nature, architecture and the beauty of Balinese girls. He felt an urgency to express a deeper layer of that beauty on paper or canvas, to grasp the purity that is instilled in beauty.

In 1941, when he executed the current lot, the only Western people he socialized with were his wife and ‘operational manager’ Maria Hofker-Rueter (1902-1999), and a few like-minded artists like Rudolf Bonnet (1895-1978), Frida Holleman (1908-1999) and the sculptor Louis van der Noordaa (1894-1945). The only other distraction was a series of successful exhibitions of his work in Buitenzorg (Bogor) and Bandung (which were attended by Maria on his behalf). Other than that, nothing could hold him back from drawing, some occasional framing, and painting the pure beauty of Bali.

The portrait of Ni Njeloen seems to transcend t.mes , culture and religion. One can easily see it resembles depictions of the holy Virgin Mary. Throughout the centuries, famous artists have painted her displaying humility and piety, announcing her virgin conception, ascending to heaven, or as the Madonna with child. The little girl from Ubud, exuding sobriety and wearing her translucent veil (a head selendang, possibly endek woven), echoes the purity and innocence of the Madonna.
Ni Nyelun (Ni Njeloen) was one of the girls living near Hofker’s house at Abangan, Ubud. Her angled gaze seems dreamy and melancholic, yet her eyes aren’t timidly cast downwards; the highlights in her eyes betray focus and self-consciousness. The intimate sunshine from the right gently highlights the youthful glow of her cheek and temple, and emphasizes the veil’s translucency, giving the portrait a meditative atmosphere. The lighting arrangement recalls Hofker’s admiration of Old Masters of chiaroscuro like Caravaggio (1571-1610) and Rembrandt (1606-1669), and heralds Hofker’s signature trait of sensuous backlit anatomy, which he so often applied in his later Balinese work.

This mesmerizing portrait was crafted by Hofker in 1941, in a vacuum of freedom. World War II had been going on for two years in Europe already, yet it was only on February 19, 1942, less than a year after this oil painting was finished, that the Japanese army invaded and occupied Bali. Thus, it is not.mes rely a portrait of an innocent Balinese beauty. It stands as an overarching symbol of Innocence when Bali, Willem, and Maria weren’t confronted yet with the atrocities of war.
Ni Njeloen captures that unique moment, frozen in t.mes , in which the Island of the Gods, which would soon become an inferno, was still an unscathed paradise.

We would like to thank Gianni Orsini, MSc. for this catalogue entry.