Ubud offers honeymoon vacation makers and those lucky enough to live there a unique honeymoon experience. Ubud has strong traditions, artistic painting, history and stylised comfort all rolled into one tropical honeymoon island package.
There are so many things to do in Ubud and the surrounding areas. You can take in the wonderful view of the stepped rice fields, you can visit the numerous temples to get a taste of Balinese traditions and history. If shopping is your preference then it has a huge market you can get lost in. There are a Monkey Forest and adventure activities for the kids. If living in immense comfort is your cup of tea then you can stay in your Ubud private luxury villas style, if cheap easy accommodation is your thing then you can stay in a local home-stay or find a good price a typical Ubud villa for rent.
Ubud is most famous for its art tourism, the streets are lined with art shops selling colorful, vivid, child-like paintings. I was inspired by this array of fantastic art to writing this article focusing on the history of Bali Painting, from my Ubud small boutique resort I was able to explore this enchanting town and put together this piece of art history.
The very roots of Balinese art come from the Hindu-Javanese Majapahit Kingdom which expanded into Bali in the 13th Century.
Before the 1920s and 1930’s the Balinese painted exclusively for religious reasons named the traditional Kamasan style, this includes calendars and Wayang Kulit (shadow puppets made from leather). Often the paintings depicted serialized stories taken from classical Hindu-Animist scriptures. The art was used to decorate temples and supply the local ruler’s art collections. The stories depicted on the paintings were taken from such books as Ramayana and Mahabharata, these stories from start to finish are packed onto one single canvas giving the painting a crowded feeling.
The Kamasan Style takes its name from the village in which it was created. The local painters at that time used materials derived from mineral and vegetable sources. For whites, they used ground animal bone, for grey they used soot from kitchen fires, and for the colors they used clay and ground colored stone. The paint-brushes were made from bamboo the most flexible of natural local materials; tree bark, handcrafted cloth or wood were their canvases.
Bali has an eco-warrior hew about it, with many of the children wearing ‘Go Green’ t-shirts. There are many recycling schemes and some of the small boutique resorts and private and luxury villas have great green credentials. These traditional methods of paintings are great examples of eco-friendly art - no poisons are used in the creating of paper or paints.
The Majapahit Kingdom had fantastically styled palaces and temples a tradition of which can be seen everywhere you go in Bali. The Bali private luxury villa development over the years has a strong influence from the Majapahit Kingdom. Bali Luxury accommodation and modernized comfort have been seamlessly integrated into the ultra-traditional. I for one would love to travel back in time and see how the Kings and Queens of this empire lived.
The Kamasan Style is the backbone of Balinese painting but the Ubud Style is what launched it onto the International arena. Before the 1920’s Bali painting relied on commissions for temples and religious ceremonies, and the market for new commissions had seriously waned.
If it wasn’t for the arrival of Western artists Walter Spies and Walter Bonnet the Ubud Style would have never been born. This is the most important revolution that took place for Balinese painting. The two western artists were encouraged by the King of Ubud to settle in his town and strike up a symbiotic relationship of learning with the local artists. Spies and Bonnet brought their classical European painting techniques and inspired by the natural beauty of Ubud simply painted what they saw. This was a deviation from the painting of religious scenes, Spies and Bonnet inspired the local artisans to paint scenes of village life such as farming, bathing, and shopping in the market.
Together with Cokorda Gede Agung, the local art patron, Spies and Bonnet set up the Pita Maha organization. Pita Maha means ‘Great Vitality’ and had the functions of providing guidance, developing skills and opening up new markets all for the local artists. The organization had grown to nearly 100 members by the end of the ’30s and was seeing some considerable success.
The Ubud Style not only is a change in subject matter but also in painting techniques. There was a move away from earth tones and the introduction of color. This meant artists added perspective, color, depth and shading in human forms. Tempera and watercolors were also introduced at this time and again absorbed by the local artists. Bonnet had a drawing style that brought careful attention to depicting the human form and subjective lighting of figures. The style of Spies was much more mystical, inspiring the locals to interpret what they saw in the surrounding land and people.
The Pita Maha was successful in its mission of opening up new markets, Spies and Bonnet staged huge exhibitions for the world to see and were able to generate substantial incomes for the local artists. This is so important for the art scene because artists could now paint for the sake of art and not just for the sake of religion.
The story of Walter Spies and Walter Bonnet ends in tragedy, during World War II the Japanese invaded Bali and put an end to the art energy and momentum in Ubud. Spies was captured by the Japanese and died when a bomb hit his prisoner boat. Bonnet was held in Sulawesi but was able to return to Bali in the ’50s and helped found the Ubud Puri Lukisan Museum. The legacy of the 1930’s Ubud Style will go on for many years to come and if you visit Ubud and stay in one of its many small boutique resorts or luxury private villa you can see just how influential this period in history is.
There are two more important developments in the Balinese painting. Arie Smit worked for the Dutch army during the 1950s and had become interested in Balinese art. Smit, originally stationed in Bandung relocated his UNESCO Children’s Art program to Ubud in 1956. This is when we can see the birth of the naïve style which uses bright colors and strong graphic style. There is also now a strong culture of academic artists across the world that use Balinese culture or nature as their muse. This is proof that Balinese Painting has installed itself as a unique style that is truly international.
Since the 1960s tourism in Bali has been growing and growing. Kuta is the center for the younger generations to surf and go nightclubbing with narrow streets lined with shops selling Bintang singlets, and cheap accommodation. Seminyak is a more high-brow version of this with shopping arcades filled with designer gear and more expensive luxury accommodation. Then you have Sanur which is really for the older generations, the private luxury villas have jaw-dropping style and comfort. Finally, you have Ubud this is definitely the romantic heart of Bali and has many traditional shops, Ubud villa, and small boutique resorts.
