SNEL, HAN (1925-1998)

“Balinese Girl With Fruit” (1984)
Pastel
46 x 60cm
Signed upper right
*private collection, Bellevue Hill
 
Snel is a legendary Dutch-Indonesian artist. His early training was at a school of graphic arts in Holland, but this was interrupted by the Second World War, and he first arrived in Indonesia in 1946 as a conscript in the Dutch army. Snel fell in love with the archipelago, and sought political asylum. In 1950 he became an Indonesian citizen and moved to Bali, to join the vibrant and emerging art scene centered around Ubud. Snel married a local girl, Made Siti, and embraced Balinese Hinduism. He presented the Balinese woman as the ‘Eve’ of the Western imagination, and Bali as a land of idyllic dreams. The paintings were a tribute to the island’s rich culture and traditions. In the 1950s he combined romanticism with the exuberant rawness and vivid colors of the European Fauve painters. He flattened and simplified his forms, surrounding and molding them with thick black outlines. By the 1960s Snel had combined impressionism with elements of cubism, allowing himself more freedom to interpret his surroundings. In the 1970s he explored abstraction, placing much emphasis on the abstract qualities of line, color and form. Finally, in the last stages of his career, and life, his creative process transcended preconceptions, and entered areas dominated by subconscious expression. His works are highly sought after around the world, and command astonishing prices. He is represented in all major galleries throughout Asia, and all over the world.