There were lots of surprises on the visit Henry, May Song and I made to the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur. I was very curious about seeing the museum’s collection since I have an artist friend in the city. Keeping in mind that Malaysia is a multi-ethnic society, I was pleased to see quite a lot of diverse visual expression. I was also thrilled to see a group of students visiting the museum, the girls in their long dresses and head scarves, obviously devout Muslims. What was interesting to me about that scene, friendly boys and girls making contact with me as photographer and trailed by their teacher in head scarf, was the idea of their looking at art at all! In other Muslim societies, the art is limited to calligraphy or abstract images, since depiction of humans or animals is not allowed by Islam. This is a contemporary museum, and everything in the collection has been created “recently”. That included the carved wooden figure, the ceramic pieces, and the bead work, which might have fallen into the craft category or the folk art category elsewhere. As we were browsing through the contemporary collection, I noted an enormous painting/collage that looked like a Rauchenberg. Exclaiming to Henry that New York artist must have had an influence here, I stepped up to note the title, only to see that indeed, the museum does have a Rauchenberg in its collection. This painting won its place here because the collage was about the country, the flags, the culture. Dated 1989, the title of the work is Yang Teragung.* Noting this factor as a link to all the work in the collection, even the portraits say something about life in Malaysia. The ethnicity of the culture, including Chinese, Malay, and Indian artists, is definitely expressed in their art. The museum was founded in 1958, with the donation of four works of art. In 2000, the current museum building was inaugurated. The National Art Gallery now has 2,500 works of art in its permanent collection. The focus of this organization is “to infuse love and awareness of art works amoungst the public”.

PHOTOS: Left Column: 1. View from the ramp: a group of Muslim school students. 2. Painted shadow puppets, Malaysian style. 3. Title: Two Young Nuns Praying, 2003 Artist: Aung Kyaw Htet 4. Title: Detail/Projectile 5, 2007. Artist: Abdul Hanif Mohd Noor Center, Top: Title: Masterpiece of Orang Ulu. Artist: Orang Ulu. Center, Bottom: Title: Akhirnya! (The Last!) undated Right Column: 1. Students in school uniforms walking up the museum’s ramp. 2. Beadwork piece by Betty Carter B., undated. 3. Ceramic pots. 4. Title: Underwater View of Myself Underwater, 1999. Artist: Zainurun Mohamad

1. *Note: a detail of Rauchenberg’s painting can be seen on the page entitled: Malaysian on this website.
   

JOURDAN ARPELLE-ZIEGLER                                        BACK TO MAP  PAGE