Ida Bagus Made Togog (1913-1989)

A story from the Middle Javanese Kidung Tantri

signed and annotated 'Ida Bagus Made Togog Batuan' and indistinctly annotated 'Sukawati' (lower centre)

ink on canvas, mounted on board, 88,5x137,5 cm

Provenance: -Collection Dr. Hedi Hinzler, Leiden, the Netherlands.

The name of the artist is written, right, on parts of the shore of a small lake. Ide Bagus Made Togog Batuan, and further on, Sukawati. Ide (phonetic spelling for Ida) Bagus Made Togog was originally from Batuan (1913-1985 or 1989).

In black and gray paint a story from the Middle Javanese Kidung Tantri is depicted. It is about the heron who warns the fish and other inhabitants of a lake: soon there will be no more water. He offers to save the fish by taking them to another lake. At that moment he takes a fish in his beak, but eats the animal further on. Then he comes for the next victim. A crab realizes that something is wrong and offers to be transported. Arriving at the other lake, he pinches the neck of the bird with his pincers, so that it dies. Lower left: the heron stands at the lake where fish are swimming around. Upper left: the heron, covered with fish, flies away in the sky. Upper right: at the lake, the crab offers to be rescued too, the heron holds it with its talons. Lower right: arrived at the other lake, the crab grabs the heron by the neck with its pincers in order to kill the bird.