Willem Gerard Hofker (1902-1981)

Ni Ketut Unis and Ni Noneh

signed and annotated 'W.G. Hofker / Ubud- / Bali' (upper left); annotated 'Ni Ketut Unis, dan Ni Noneh.' (upper right)

conte and crayon, heightened in white, on paper, 37x27 cm

Provenance:
-Collection of the late G. van Kempen (Java 1913- 1998 The Netherlands), agreat art enthusiast who met with the European artists on Bali like R. Bonnet, A.J. Le Mayeur de Merprès, T. Meier and W.G.Hofker. According to his family this drawing was a gift from Hofker in exchange for art supplies, Thence by descent to the present owner.

It is the 17th of June 1938, only a few days after the artist Willem Gerard Hofker first set foot on Island of Bali, and approached a young girl behind a market stall to ask her if she would like to pose for him. Maria wrote about this occurrence as follows: 'With the help of Rata, the clerk of the showroom, we go to the market next door to get a beautiful young woman to pose. Wim starts at 8 o'clock and is not home until 12 o'clock. All this time she has been quietly weaving a diamond-shape motif in a cloth'. We know this drawing as ‘Ni Ketoet Oenis, 1938’, seen behind a loom. Reading on in the driary learns us that Willem also worked with this model in the following days. He even invited her to their home to place her there in the perfect surroundings for his next drawing.

The artist couple lived in a guest-house owned by J.A. Houbolt called ‘Dangin Puri ‘, idyllically described by Maria as: ‘Our pavillion is beautifully situated with a wide view over the rice fields. We overlook all the temple gates and the clay walls around the compound with a covering of dried palm leaf on top. Then the sturdy, cheerful population. A miraculous world this is’.

It is there, overlooking these rice fields that Hofker had this first model to pose for him with a large basket on her head exactly like Maria described the moment on June 20th 1938 in her diary; This morning Willem worked again and drew Ketut Oenis, the neighbour girl from the market, who patiently posed with a basket on her head for 3 hours. And the artist himself also made that known with a sketch in his first letter dated 25 and 26 June 1938 that went from Bali to Holland. Maria started that letter written to Eveline Jas with: ‘This afternoon when I came home at half past five and quickly asked for tea, to sit with it on the gallery, when Wim came home, I found five letters on the table, including one from you, how convivial ! You don't know how I enjoy receiving mail, especially on Bali, now that we are no longer staying with friends. But first of all, here is a scribble from Wim. He apologized about it, but I think you will like it anyway. It is a beautiful and lovely girl from next door who continuously keeps on posing for three or four hours. Wim also wrote a bit around the drawing (..)’.

This presented drawing here with the charming girl ‘Ni Ketut Unis' is an elaborated version of this sketch, but to which the second girl, sitting, was added. As the title reveals she is Ni Noneh. It shows Bali as Hofker first experienced it: two girls here carefully positioned in the landscape, very giftedly drawn and together with their offerings attributes as in an everyday activity in Bali.

To Hofker these were new and exceptionally beautiful settings. He found himself now living in paradise among a population pure. ‘It is a life like a "God in France" here. It is indeed the egg of Columbus, these sincere souls and bodies without any false shame. They are uninhibited and bursting with joy. Musical and with a beauty in all their being - I would almost say; natural gift without knowing it . What a uniqueness there still is in these civilizations. Only the happiness of living, and nothing more!'. W.G.Hofker , June 1938.

© Seline Hofker October 2022

For this artist resale right is applicable from € 2400 hammer price onwards