"I have found my ideal here in Bali—the women carry in their graceful forms the poetry of an entire culture."
Willem Gerard Hofker (1902-1981) was born in the Netherlands in the city of The Hague. Hofker started his education at the Art Academy in The Hague when he was fifteen and then continued at the National Academy of Art in Amsterdam, which he left when he was twenty-two and started working as an independent artist In Amsterdam in 1925. In 1928 he met Maria the eldest daughter of his former teacher at the National Academy of Art, Georg Rueter (1875-1966), and married her in 1930. Due to Hofkers wide range of talents he became a successful artist. He was an excellent painter, etcher and draftsman, depicting cityscapes, rural scenes, nudes and portraits. The couple was very happy together and lived and worked in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and from mid-1938 till the end of 1943 in Denpasar and Ubud on Bali.
Willem Hofker created this present painting, portraying the charming Ni Nyoman Dablig in May 1939 when living in Denpasar. She is depicted here at her family home in the neighborhood called Lebah. Her courtyard was so charming that the artist's wife Maria accompanied him many t.mes s while working there and wrote about it in very vivid detail in the letters that were sent to their family in the Netherlands.
The Hofkers themselves lived near the main road, now called Jalan Hayam Wuruk, in the Badung district, just a few minutes away from the Klandes Kedaton Temple, where ceremonies were held daily. Fascinated by the people of Bali and their culture the Hofkers attended many gatherings and temple ceremonies, a place where he could select his models by observing them in their natural environment.
The charming model Ni Dablig was mentioned by the Hofkers in his notes and in several letters as early as January 1939 ; ‘a new model; a delightful, unaffected farm girl. Perfect and round, and brown as a chestnut’. She became one of his favorite models and dominates in his work from that period. And Maria, who was also fascinated by her, wrote on the 22nd of April 1939:
Willem is drawing in the studio because he hadn't done much this morning! Two of Dablig's girlfriends, his beautiful model, are also there to chat and joke. And I keep hearing such hearty laughter. Oh, what a delightfully cheerful and uncomplicated nature they have! You can imagine how much Willem feels at home with it. He says he's completely happy when he can work like this. He's so excellent and incredibly happy in his work right now.
A month later after the Hofkers had already visited Dablig's parental home several t.mes s, and found it a wonderful place to work, Maria noted in her diary on the 11th of May 1939.; "It's so pleasant and beautiful at Dablig's house that I bring Willem his lunch at 10 a.m. already. This way I can also enjoy the friendly and pleasant atmosphere’.
In this setting, Hofker created this painting and shows us the beauty of life at Bali. The charming girl, at the center of the canvas, styled with cempaka flowers in her hair and a curled gold foil decoration, the ‘Bunga Emas’, as she would go to the temple festivals. Behind her the ‘Kemulan’, her family temple. And at her feet we see the gamelan instrument as music cannot be missed on Bali.
In the year 1939, when this specific painting also was created, Hofker continuously experimented with various accessories and was searching for compositions for his paintings. Using the gamelan instrument here as a very decorative object.
He developed more eye for details and went to the market himself to buy the necessary attributes, to show life in Bali. Hofker worked tirelessly and when Maria found a beautiful large braided basket, he placed it on the head of his model or worn under her arm as shown in the present work. So that in addition to just the portrait, a story of Bali also emerged in his paintings.
We would like to thank Seline Hofker for this catalogue entry.