Walter Spies | |
| (1895 - 1942, German) | |
| Spies, Walter (Moscow, Russia, 1895 - Indonesia, 1942) Highly talented descendant of a highly talented family, who spent his youth in Moscow. When World War I broke out, he and his family being German, were interned in Sterlimatak in the Ural mountains in Russia. In this totally deserted place, the young artist developed his love for nature, which shows in all his paintings. He returned to Moscow in 1917, then went to Dresden (Germany) to complete his studies. There he lived and worked in the company of the great German expressionist painters and avant-garde composers. In 1923 he left Europe for Indonesia. He first settled in Bandung, then in Yogyakarta, wher he became the conductor of the orchestra of Sultan Hamengku Buwono VIII. In 1927 he settled in Bali. Together with R. Bonnet and others he founded in 1936 the ‘Pita Maha’, a painters society of young Balinese artists, whose aim it was to maintain a high artistic level of its members. ‘Pita Maha’ produced work of high quality during its short period of existence (1936-1941). He was interned by the Dutch in 1940 provisionally in Ngawi, Java, then in Kotatjane, Smatra. This dedicated artist, who ranks amongst the best pre-war realists of the world died on his journey for Ceylon from Padang by ‘Van Imhoff’ when it was hit by a Japanese bomb and sank in 1942. | |
Walter Spies in current auction: | |
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