088
b. Indonesia, 1924 – d. 1995
Mohd. Hoessein Enas, Dato’
Morning Mist 5
1992
signed and dated ‘Hoessein enas ‘92’ (bottom right)
oil on canvas
121 x 90cm
Provenance
Private collection, Penang; acquired from The Art Gallery, Penang.
Estimate
RM 90,000 – 130,000
Price Realised
RM 198,000
LITERATURE
Dr. Tan Chee Khuan, The Life and Art of Dato’ M. Hoessein Enas, The Art Gallery, Penang, 1999, illustrated p. 83.
Reputedly one of only five from Hoessein Enas’ highly sought-after sensuous Morning Mist series, it is probably inspired by Rembrandt van Rijn’s (1606- 1669) The Bather (1651).
The series is one of the most erotic in Malaysian art with the water-soaked and slightly hiked-up sarong accentuating the voluptuary of the body. Few note the details of the floral motif and patterns of the sarong. This is also a work steeped in the tradition of Indonesian realist painter Basuki Abdullah (1915-1993), who had done similar ‘Bathers’ theme.
