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Lot Essay
Temple de Bancal is a masterpiece by the Belgian proverbial paintertravellerof the early 20th Century, Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès,and demonstrates the superb Impressionist style that is a hallmark ofhis paintings created before World War II.
Le Mayeur spent much of his artistic career seeking out beauty fromthe far corners of the world, first travelling across Europe, then Tahitiand French Polynesia, much in the way of French impressionist, PaulGauguin, who was a great influence on Le Mayeur. Eventually, in 1932,the artist’s travels took him to the exotic Indonesian island of Bali,which served as his inspiration for the next twenty-six years. AlthoughLe Mayeur is well-known for his paintings of elegant Balinese womenin lush gardens and beachscapes, paintings from his Bali periodbefore the 1940s, such as Temple de Bancal , focused more on theBalinese way of life and their rich cultural traditions.
The mise-en-scène Le Mayeur depicts in the present lot, shows abustling scene outside of a temple, with various groups of figuresparticipating in the different rituals practiced during religious festivals.On the right, we see a group of women kneeling with their handspressed in prayer overhead, receiving scented holy water blessedby a priest in act of spiritual cleansing. The central female figuredelivers a towering gebogan, a Balinese offering of fruit, flowers andsweet cakes, atop her head, her pose rendered in poetic lines thatwill be further developed in Le Mayeurs later works. Behind her is aprocession of women carrying various offerings to the temple to beblessed, bamboo poles with offerings, known as penjor hanging abovethem. Interestingly, the artist has included a group of men crouchedin the far-left corner, engaged in a cockfight, which is a deep cultural practice and an integral part of Balinese religious festivals thatcontinues to be practiced even to this day. It is uncommon that LeMayeur depicts scenes of Balinese men in his paintings, adding to therare quality of this work.
Temple de Bancal demonstrates Le Mayeur’s true sophistication as anartist, its composition an exceptional example of the style he adaptedin the years in Bali, when he started composing paintings of multiplefigures. Impressions of figures in various attitudes with elongatedlimbs and exaggerated hands and feet highlight his unorthodoxinterpretation of anatomy, which points to a more liberated mood ascompared to his later style. In this pre-war Balinese period, the artistpainted in a highly impressionist style: with thick short strokes, hecreated a colourful idyll. With just a few carefully chosen colours andcolours set on various planes in each picture, he manages to create ahighly personal impression of a subject. His technique, though simple,is highly effective, capturing the sparkling tropical sunlight with a fewstrokes of paint on skin. One of the other characteristics that identifythis work as iconic of this period is its colour palette of pastel shadesof green, pinks and beige, accented by cadmium red and orange,which points to Le Mayeur as being an exponent of late EuropeanNeo-Impressionism.
This present lot is a fine example of the artistic feeling and free stylewith which the artist painted, deploying a combination of delicate andvivid colours in combination with dazzling light effects to achieve whathas become Le Mayeur’s main force as a master of light. Temple de Bancal delivers a rare impression into the rich cultural fabric of Bali,encapsulating the spiritual beauty of its people.
Le Mayeur spent much of his artistic career seeking out beauty fromthe far corners of the world, first travelling across Europe, then Tahitiand French Polynesia, much in the way of French impressionist, PaulGauguin, who was a great influence on Le Mayeur. Eventually, in 1932,the artist’s travels took him to the exotic Indonesian island of Bali,which served as his inspiration for the next twenty-six years. AlthoughLe Mayeur is well-known for his paintings of elegant Balinese womenin lush gardens and beachscapes, paintings from his Bali periodbefore the 1940s, such as Temple de Bancal , focused more on theBalinese way of life and their rich cultural traditions.
The mise-en-scène Le Mayeur depicts in the present lot, shows abustling scene outside of a temple, with various groups of figuresparticipating in the different rituals practiced during religious festivals.On the right, we see a group of women kneeling with their handspressed in prayer overhead, receiving scented holy water blessedby a priest in act of spiritual cleansing. The central female figuredelivers a towering gebogan, a Balinese offering of fruit, flowers andsweet cakes, atop her head, her pose rendered in poetic lines thatwill be further developed in Le Mayeurs later works. Behind her is aprocession of women carrying various offerings to the temple to beblessed, bamboo poles with offerings, known as penjor hanging abovethem. Interestingly, the artist has included a group of men crouchedin the far-left corner, engaged in a cockfight, which is a deep cultural practice and an integral part of Balinese religious festivals thatcontinues to be practiced even to this day. It is uncommon that LeMayeur depicts scenes of Balinese men in his paintings, adding to therare quality of this work.
Temple de Bancal demonstrates Le Mayeur’s true sophistication as anartist, its composition an exceptional example of the style he adaptedin the years in Bali, when he started composing paintings of multiplefigures. Impressions of figures in various attitudes with elongatedlimbs and exaggerated hands and feet highlight his unorthodoxinterpretation of anatomy, which points to a more liberated mood ascompared to his later style. In this pre-war Balinese period, the artistpainted in a highly impressionist style: with thick short strokes, hecreated a colourful idyll. With just a few carefully chosen colours andcolours set on various planes in each picture, he manages to create ahighly personal impression of a subject. His technique, though simple,is highly effective, capturing the sparkling tropical sunlight with a fewstrokes of paint on skin. One of the other characteristics that identifythis work as iconic of this period is its colour palette of pastel shadesof green, pinks and beige, accented by cadmium red and orange,which points to Le Mayeur as being an exponent of late EuropeanNeo-Impressionism.
This present lot is a fine example of the artistic feeling and free stylewith which the artist painted, deploying a combination of delicate andvivid colours in combination with dazzling light effects to achieve whathas become Le Mayeur’s main force as a master of light. Temple de Bancal delivers a rare impression into the rich cultural fabric of Bali,encapsulating the spiritual beauty of its people.