Isaac Israels | IAS 2019 €27.000,-

Isaac Israels (1865-1934)

A gamelan orchestra

signed ‘Isaac Israels’ (lower right) Probably executed in 1916-1917.

oil on canvas, 38,5×48,5 cm

Israels had a keen interest in theaters and artists. He is known to have visited two major exhibitions (1883 and 1898) where he saw exotic Javanese dancers and gamelan orchestras. Later in The Hague, on 15 and 17 March 1916, two charity events for the Indies took place. The aim of these events was to raise money for those affected by the many floods on the island Java towards the end of 1915. It was at these occasions that he met the dancer Raden Mas Jodjana. The two artists became friends. This encounter was the inspiration not only for several portraits of Jodjana, but also for several paintings of gamelan orchestras and eventually led Israels to the Dutch Indies during late 1921 and early 1922 where his preference for the exotic was at least temporary answered.