Mohd. Hoessein Enas, Dato’

044

b. Indonesia, 1924 – d. 1995
Mohd. Hoessein Enas, Dato’
Javanese Girl
1954
signed ‘Hoessein ‘54’ bottom left
oil on canvas
51x 38cm
Provenance
Private collection, Penang; acquired through The Art Gallery, Penang. Private collection, Penang; acquired from Christie’s South East Asian Pictures Sale in Singapore, March 1996
Estimate
RM 68,000 –80,000
Price Realised
RM 127,600

EXHIBITED
Arts Council of Malaya Picture Exhibition, June 1954, exhibit 538

ILLUSTRATED
Page 62, The Life and Art of Dato’ M. Hoessein Enas (The Art Gallery, 1999)
Pioneers of Malaysian Art (Dr. Tan Chee Khuan, The Art Gallery Penang, 1994)
Lot 167, Christie’s Singapore South East Asian Pictures Sale catalogue (March 31, 1996)

This work was first exhibited at the Arts Council of Malaya Picture Exhibition in June 1954 and later sold at Christie’s Singapore South East Asian Pictures Sale on March 31, 1996. Hoessein was always attracted to nubile Javanese beauty which also reflected his Javanese roots, and thus this picture of a fetching Javanese girl with a floral earring stud and her body in side profile. At that time, he was working as assistant controller in the Aboriginal Affairs Department.Here, the artist’s naturalistic portrayal of the Javanese beauty with the modern and abstract brush-work in the background created a lively and exciting contrast not often seen in his other portraiture paintings.