작품 상세

Celebrated for his immensely invaluable contribution to the development of Malaysian art that spanned over five decades, the late Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal produced art that bears profound personal, social and moral significance in various forms and medium for the masses with his later works lodged in spiritual and religious ethos demonstrating balance and harmony on canvas. From figurative and caricature drawings, abstract paintings, sculptures, textile art, murals, stage and poster designs to writings, the all-encompassing artist, cultural observer and educator has been truly missed by the art community since his passing. On offer here is an outstanding oil painting entitled Berenang (Swimming) profoundly executed in 1965, a period that represents the creation of the artist’s most personal biographical works. In an essay by academician Hasnul J. Saidon titled 55 Years of Collecting Syed Ahmad Jamal’s Works - published in a monograph in conjunction with a seminal exhibition titled Syed Ahmad Jamal: PELUKIS and in celebration of the artist’s 80th birthday at the National Visual Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur in 2009 – the author pointed out that this historical piece, Berenang dated 1965 alongside other significant works namely Relationship (1964), Lost (1965) and Figure (1965) correspond with a life episode that is especially intimate following events of personal obstacles faced by the late Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal. This painting’s coarse yet fluid surface illustrated in cool and warm palette of dominant blue with yellow and red suggests a tranquil state of mind amidst an act of resistance – an epiphany to the artist’s inner emotions expressed through melancholic but nevertheless vibrant gestures akin to other works produced in the same year namely 19.9.65 – a painting that marks the artist’s birthday - and Figure depicting a lone, anonymous human form submerged in a dual-columned blue yellow and red segments emulating water and/or earth that perhaps symbolises a plunge into the abyss. A similar meaning is conveyed here by adopting the act of swimming (swimming towards something bright and marvelous, poised to embrace a new chapter in life) as a life metaphor emanating a sense of solemnity for the year 1965 signifies the bitter end of his first marriage. Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal had incorporated the use of incongruity in his early works through the juxtaposition of warm and cool hues, light and dark since Self-Portrait. Executed in 1955 prior to leaving Chelsea to return home, the self-depiction is known to be his first endeavour illustrating himself in a representational manner using contradictory colour schemes. Artist (painter, sculptor, logo designer), academician, administrator, critic-writer, curator, stage and costume designer, cartoonist. That’s Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal, the only fine-art National Laureate. He was director of the National Art Gallery (NAG, 1981-1991), the Asian Cultural Centre (Universiti Malaya, KL, 1979-1983), and principal of the Specialist Teachers Training Institute, from 1964 (1961-1972). The NAG honoured him with a Retrospective in 1975, and another Retrospective titled Syed Ahmad Jamal: Pelukis (2009), besides Syed Ahmad Jamal: Historical Overview 1954-1994 (Nanyang Gallery of Art, KL, 1994-1995). His awards include the Datukship (1996), country awards from India (1962), the United States (1963-1964), France (1970), and Australia (1984). Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal had his formal art education in Britain and the United States culminating with a Masters degree in Art History from the University of Hawaii, Honolulu (1973-1974). He authored two major books, Rupa Dan Jiwa (1992) and the autobiographical Kunang-Kunang (1999).