Indonesian Fine Art
The twin brothers Leo and Arthur Eland were born in 1884 in Salatiga on Central Java. They were born into the colonial system; their father was a Dutch officer serving in the Royal Dutch East Indies Army (Koninklijk Nederlandsch-Indisch Leger, KNIL), and their mother was an indigenous Javanese woman. Both brothers received some education in drawing in Indonesia, and although a military career was provided for both, Leo soon chose a career as a painter whereas Arthur chose a military career and painted in his spare time. Although Leo was largely self-taught, he drew inspiration from his close friend Carel Dake Jr, a well-known Indonesian painter and the son of a professor at the prestigious Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. Under Dake’s guidance, Leo honed his painting skills. His work was sought after, his paintings sold well, and his reputation grew. A sign of his elevated status was his commission from the Ministry of the Colonies to produce paintings for the International Colonial Exhibition held in Paris from May 6 to November 6, 1931. Although he had left Indonesia for the Netherlands around 1920, he returned there in 1928 to seek inspiration for this prestigious commission. In 1930, Leo sailed back to the Netherlands on the S.S. Baloeran, and shortly afterwards took up a studio near Paris. He produced a number of large paintings for the Dutch Pavilion, which unfortunately were lost in the fire of 28 June 1931. His decision to move back to the Netherlands, and yet continue painting Indonesian scenes for decades, suggests a deep and abiding connection to the land of his birth. Leo Eland can be characterised as a typical ‘Mooi-Indië’ painter, working in a light- hearted Impressionist style that is pleasing to the eye. Eland also did not engage as deeply with modernist trends or ethnographic documentation as artists like Bonnet did in Bali. His niche was the accessible, beautiful, and romanticised landscape: smoothly painted, colourful depictions of the enchanting tropical landscapes of Indonesia — with its majestic volcanoes, serene crater lakes, verdant rice paddies, lush forests, and coastal scenes, both on Java and Sumatra — in which he beautifully captured his deep admiration for these landscapes and the people of the Dutch East Indies. His paintings often included elements of human activity that brought the scenes to life. It is known that he travelled to plantations in Indonesia, where he offered to paint them for their owners. His love of travel further took him to America, Switzerland, and Morocco, where he was inspired to paint North African street views and landscapes. During his lifetime and in the decades that followed, Leo Eland’s paintings enjoyed considerable popularity, particularly among the Dutch public with ties to the Dutch East Indies. Former colonial administrators, plantation owners, military personnel, and their families returning to the Netherlands often purchased his work as a nostalgic reminder of the tropical landscapes they had left behind. His gallery in The Hague became a magnet for anyone wishing to acquire a piece of ‘Mooi-Indië’ to adorn their home. Leo Eland died in 1952 in The Hague, four years after his brother Arthur.
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Sources: Delpher - De Preanger Bode, 8 April 1917.
-De Telegraaf 2 July 1930. -De Tijd, 6 December 1940.
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