Rusli
(1912–2005)
Rusli, Born in Medan, North Sumatra (1912 – 2005). He studied at the Kala Bhawana Santiniketan University of Rabindranath Tagore, Bengal, India from 1932 to 1936. He spent 6 years in India studying pure painting art, fine art of mural and relief, architecture, as well as eastern art philosophy of Shantiniketan tradition and thought.
Going back home from India, he directly participated in Indonesian physical revolution for independence fought against the colonialist. After the era of revolutionary war, in 1951, Rusli was designated to become a lecturer in Indonesian Fine Art Academy (ASRI) at Jogjakarta (of which now has changed to Indonesian Art Institute or ISI).
Rusli’s painting is along the same line of Japanese and Chinese traditional paintings through its use of lines of varying width which are sometimes transparent, sometimes bright, while also leaving of lot of empty space. Rusli, took on the role of the head of Seniman Indonesia Muda (Young Indonesian Artists), at the Yogyakarta Branch between 1947-48, and the deputy head of the International Association of Plastic Arts UNESCO in 1960, and as one of the first members of the Akademi Jakarta (Jakarta Academy) in 1970. As an artist, he is known for being one of the pioneers of abstract painting in Indonesia.
