Hildawati Soemantri was born 1947, graduated from ceramic department at the Bandung Institute of Technology. She then taught at Jakarta Institute of the Arts, and continue to pursue her academic career until she finished doctoral degree from Cornell University in Ithaca, USA. She is the first female who got art historian doctoral degree in Indonesia. she dedicated her life into academic life and even founded the ceramic studio at IKJ. Her first exhibition in 1974 in Taman Ismail Marzuki was a breakthrough and had put her in important position since she showed an unconventional approaches to ceramic. Her last solo exhibition held at Cemara Enam Gallery in 2003, just few months before she passed away.
Hildawati might be the first generation of Indonesian artists that juxtaposed craft and fine art in equal positions. The dualism or hierarchical opposition between craft and fine art had never been recognized in Indonesia. However, such a dualism—which only existed in the Western history of art—was also reproduced in Indonesian art colleges and it lasts hitherto. Hildawati was a woman of her era. Her attempt to give a new context to the said debate is noteworthy, it was a critical achievement in the Indonesian history of fine art.
Purnomo Clay creates a replica of one of Hildawati’s works produced in 1978 (untitled). The work consists of 15 ceramic balls coated with glaze. The work portrays Hilda’s attempt in presenting a new form of craft in her era. It is also aimed to be a stimulus that urges the debate on contemporary discourses of craft in Indonesia.
Photo source: kebudayaan.kemdikbud.go.id
