An extensive and detailed biography of Smit is currently in preparation by Garrett Kam, a resident of Bali since 1987. A friend of Smit since 1989, Kam has authored several books on Arie Smit and coordinated the inclusion of his works in many national and international exhibitions. Remembering Arie Smit Arie Smit is a name known to anyone familiar with Balinese art and was better known to close friends as “Pak Arie."
He was born Adrianus Wilhelmus Smit on 15 April 1916 in Zaandam, Netherlands, to a Catholic family in the shipping business. Exotic tales from a classmate from the Netherlands Indies got him interested in the Dutch colony on the other side of the world. Smit later studied graphic design at the Academy of Arts in Rotterdam. He enlisted for mandatory Dutch military service, choosing to be sent to the Netherlands Indies in 1938. He worked as a lithographer for the Dutch Army’s Topographical Service in Batavia (Jakarta) and made maps of the immense archipelago, and also served as librarian there. He did a map of Bali and, was fascinated by its unique geography of volcanoes and lakes, and vowed to make a visit there. He had no idea at the time that it would eventually become his adopted home.
With money saved from the sales of his paintings in several exhibitions, Smit visited Bali for the first time in 1956 with fellow Dutch artist Auke Sonnega (1910-1963), and, after two months there, decided to make the island his permanent home. He lived in dozens of different villages across the island during the ensuing half-century, preferring quiet rural villages and small towns for his artistic inspiration, which suited his quiet and modest character.
He always did sketches on paper outdoors and made notes about colors, but created finished pieces back in his studio, often working on several paintings at the same time as he waited for newly applied layers of paint on other pieces to dry. Elements of early 20th century Fauvism also were important in his works with large dots of colors creating forms and shapes as well as a vibrant mood, but his style and variations of motifs developed and changed during the period he lived and worked in Bali. An extremely creative and productive artist, Smit often changed, evolved, and experimented with his style in ways that showed refreshing and new views of familiar scenes such as temples and landscapes.
Afflicted by blindness since 2012, Smit was unable to paint during his final years. He quietly peacefully passed away on 23 March 2016 in Denpasar, just 23 days before his 100th birthday and on the full moon during a lunar eclipse, a very auspicious time in Bali. He will be missed but his spirit lives on in his works and of the artists he inspired. The largest pubic display of his works can be viewed at the Arie Smit Pavilion, which he funded to be built, at the Neka Art Museum in Ubud.
Photo: Galeri Nasional Indonesia
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