BALI Village Scene

Painted by notable artist N. Pait from Ubud. Bali, circa 1965 Traditionally, Batuan paintings were restricted to the Kamasan or Wayang style - visual narratives of Hindu-Javanese epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata, which were produced for religious purposes. These renderings followed strictly prescribed rules, and were usually produced collaboratively and anonymously. It was after the arrival of several famous western artists during the 1920s and 30s that painting in Bali took on a more secular and rural nature. In Batuan, paintings became dense, crowded scenes from daily life, juxtaposed with an unseen world of fantastic spooks and freakish monsters.