In 1936 Willem Gerard Hofker, a successful Dutch painter, was commissioned by the manager of the Dutch shipping company, Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (Royal Packet Navigation Company) to make a ceremonial portrait of Queen Wilhelmina. This commission proved to be a turning point in his life, as KPM later commissioned Hofker to travel to the Dutch-Indies for five months to make drawings of the people and the culture of the Dutch colony. It was in the Dutch East Indies, and particularly in Bali, that the artistic talents of Hofker flourished as he and his wife, Maria Rueter, immersed themselves in Balinese life and culture.
Born on May 3, 1902 in The Hague, Willem Gerard Hofker grew up surrounded by artists: George Hendrik Breitner (1857-1923) and Isaac Israels (1865-1934) were family friends and it was in this artistic environment that Hofker's talent was soon noticed. On Witsen's recommendation Hofker first attended the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and later the Rijksacademie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. Portraiture was central in the academic tradition in art and that served Hofker well as his disposition to document his travels - new sights, cultural life, people - was matched by his artistic abilities.
Early in 1938 the Hofkers arrived by boat in Batavia (Jakarta). From there they travelled to Bali. They were immensely affected by the prevalence of a cultural life in Bali, known event then as the 'Island of Gods', that they decided to settle there. At first they lived in Denpasar, before moving to the artist's village Ubud. Hofker's subjects were mostly young Balinese girls and women, but palaces and landscapes were also favoured subjects. In December 1943, after more than one and a half years of Japanese occupation of the Dutch-Indies, the Hofkers were taken from their house in Ubud and detained by the Japanese. Hofker had an eye for beauty; he chose his models carefully. The girls who posed for him were sometimes of modest background: the girl next door or the domestic help, but there were also well-known sitters like the young Legong dancers Ni Tjawan and Ni Sadri, who were portrayed in their full dance regalia.
The present lot, Ni Kenjoeng bij lamplicht (Ni Kenjoeng by lamplight), is a moving portrait of one of the artist's favourite painting subjects. A young Balinese dancer, Ni Kenjoeng posed as Hofker's subject on more than one occasion. Yet in depicting his sitter by lamplight, Hofker isolates his subject from the context of the temple or a general Balinese landscape. In the present lot, he sought to immortalise on oil the elegant and blossoming sensuality of Ni Kenjeong. Her eyes are looking down, symbolizing humility, self-control and noble character. Her averted gaze, so skillfully set and captured by the artist, invites the viewer to contemplate her personality more. Depicting her, and indeed many other subjects bare-breasted gives Hofker's Balinese oeuvre an erotic aura, although this did not reflect any intimacy in reality. In fact, Hofker's strong friendship with Ni Kenjeong shows in the natural relaxed pose that he captured in the present picture.
Hofker studied his model intensely and more often than not, would reproduce identical compositions in different mediums. Another oil version of Ni Kenjoeng bij lamplicht exists alongside drawings and aquatint etchings. It is in the oil versions that Hofker's adroitness at painting drapery is really demonstrated. His handling of light and shadow is excellent and reveals the accomplished hand as a portraitist that Hofker is.