작품 상세

The vegetation is sparse, with a pervasive sense of desolation in this doodle likely done when Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal was teaching at the Malayan Teachers Training College in Kirby, Lancashire, for two years from 1958-1959. For some reasons, he felt cold and lonely there this time. It was his second stint in UK, his first when studying Art at the Chelsea School of Art and the Institute of Education at the London University from 1950-1956. It was during this Kirby period that Syed Ahmad Jamal came up with iconic pieces like Sawah Padi, Chairil Anwar (all 1958), Angin Dingin and Umpan (both 1959). On his return, he held his first solo at the British Council, Kuala Lumpur, in 1960. An artist, an academician, an administrator, a critic-writer, a curator, a stage and costume designer, a cartoonist. National Laureate Datuk Syed Ahmad Jamal had been director of the Asian Cultural Centre, Universiti Malaya, KL (1979-1983), the National Art Gallery (NAG) (1981-1991), and principal of the Specialist Teachers Training Institute, from 1964 (1961-1972). The NAG honoured him with a Retrospective in 1975, and another monster Retrospective titled Syed Ahmad Jamal: Pelukis (2009). He also had a survey exhibition titled, Syed Ahmad Jamal: Historical Overview 1954-1994, held at the Nanyang Gallery of Art, Kuala Lumpur, from 1994-1995. In 1996, he was conferred the Panglima Jasa Negara, which carries the title ‘Datuk’. He was also honoured with country awards from India (1962), the United States (1963-1964), France (1970), and Australia (1984).