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Balinese painters

architecture of a temple or palace - or the very sacred effigies called arca, which function as vessels for deities.

These days, anyone visiting the Ubud area would be tempted to say that every Balinese owns an art shop. Ubud became known as a centre for the arts in the 1930s, thanks to the Pita Maha association - a group of painters and sculptors under the leadership of members of the Ubud palace family and the European artists Walter and Rudolph Bonnet. The objective was to help local artist is still debated among scholar – did they introduce perspective and realism in anatomy; was it they who introduced the idea of representing scenes from everyday life? Yet there is no question that they helped spawn the cottage industry of painting and sculpture that continues to dominate this part of Bali , from Tegallalang in the north, to Mas and Batuan in the south.

The Good, the Cute, and the Ugly

Most of the work found Ubud shops and galleries is inexpensive, much of it is charming, some of it is good, and laced through it are pieces of real art, both traditional and modern. But how is a new visitor to sort through this immense quantity of stuff?

The first step is to educate one's eye by visiting the best collections. These are shiefly found in the several museums in and around Ubud: Museum Puri Likisan, Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA), and Neka Museum. All have important works in their permanent collections, representative of the main streams of Balinese painting.

Traditional and Contemporary Painters

Today's painters fall into two broad and occasionally overlapping categories : “artisanal” paiters, working in established styles for the tourism market, and “ contemporary” painters, striving for recognition on the international art scene.

were fewer opportunities

European artists Walter

make great discoveries