Bali in the 1930s  Photographs and Sculptures by Arthur Fleischmann (Hardcover 2007)

248 pages

350mm x 280mm

THIS Collection of photographs, sculptures and sketches represents a most artistically significant period in the life of Dr Arthur Fleischmann FRBS, KCSG, MD from 1937-1939, when he spent two idyl- lic years on the island of Bali.

Arthur Fleischmann was born in Bratis- lava, Slovakia, in 1896, and as a young man, he qualified as a medical doctor following studies in Prague and in Budapest. However, shortly after graduation, his energies and considerable talent drew him towards the world of art, and his artistic studies began in the Art Academy of Prague as a pupil of Jan Štursa. Such were his impressive skills and promise, that he was awarded a scholarship to continue studies at the Sculpture Master Class with Josef Müllner in Vienna. Major commissions in that city then followed.

As his work matured and extended, an exhibition was held in the United States before he travelled to South Africa, where further exhibitions were held in Johannes- burg and Pretoria. He continued on to Bali, which at that time was part of the colonial Dutch East Indies. Despite the legendary beauty of this isle and its people, it was then relatively unknown to western travellers, unlike more recent times. It was here, how- ever, that the dimensions of Fleischmann's artistic and spiritual sensitivity would furt- her flourish. In Bali, he created a collection of figurative sculptures and photographs, which immortalise the unique beauty of the Balinese, and of a culture vastly different to his European background.

This book bears testimony to that experience. In his work of that period, we observe the gracious Legongs, female temple dancers with fluid classical pose, traditional head- dress and gown, - the modest and tender kneeling mother with pubescent girl, both so vulnerable in their innocent simplicity - the sleeping male child, draped gently across the thigh of his watchful mother - and another where the child gazes, still and detached, as the mother seeks the future with her eyes.

In dramatic contrast, an ageing peasant's face stares, fixed in sad and thoughtful re- verie, and the fingers of the village gamelan drummer tap out an ancient rhythm. Perhaps, most moving of all are the sculptures and photographs of unadorned Balinese women, with their magnificent posture, their proud bearing, their firm and perfect breasts. Each work is illuminated by the artist's deep humanity, his empathy with these people who so enchanted him, and touched his spirit.

In 1939, Fleischmann described his impressions in an article entitled 'Balinese Beauty - Photographs and Impressions' which was published in 1939 in the now discontinued Australia National Journal. Fleischmann commented. 'It is indeed mysterious that this island whose population totals one million, whose culture is centuries old, whose cus- toms, religion, feasts, dancers and arts are so