Lempad has today become part of the life of   Balinese painting. He is a source of inspiration that never dries up for ensuing generations of art its. When speaking of the history and development of Balinese painting, his name inevitably crops up all over. This, then, is the tale of the Ubud villager, a born artist who is now an exalted member of the Balinese fine art constellation in Indonesia. who was still quite young when his family fled Blahbatuh, grew up and married, and built a home which is still inhabited by his grandchildren to day.

Today there is still much confusion about what   year he was born, but many sources say that Lempad, the third of four children, was born in  1862, We know that he was in his old age when the Dutch and the Japanese colonized Indonesia.  And since he spent his last breath in 1978, he is thought to have been 11 6 years old when he died.

During his life, and particularly in his old age,  Lempad was looked after tenderly by his children and grandchildren.  If the weather was less than  good, he was difficult to get hold of unless there was some highly serious matter to discuss. He would often relax in his favourite place - the eastem bale (hall). However, whenever he felt strong,  he would be seen with his walking stick around  the environs of the puri. "Don't bother becoming a clever person" advised his father when he was young, and this was   what he told people when they asked him what  his recipe was for unfailing strength. 

"Clever  people live short lives and die quickly" a sen tence which flies in the face of traditional theories which argue that cleverness enables one to look  after oneself to better effect and thereby achievelongevity. However, it was a sentiment that per haps underlined the flight of the Lempad family from Blahbatuh to Ubud.  Obviously his father  didn't want his children to be like him a victim of court politics.  Lempad was therefore deprived of formal education, and could not read, although was able to write his name in Balinese on his  paintings, simply by copying the form of the examples he was given.  Although his father was a craftsman, Lempad didn't inherit any of his skills from him, but rather from a Brahmin who lived at the Puri.  This man worked in several fields, as a building specialist, interior designer, sculptor, painter, and ceremonial paraphernalia expert. From this Brahmin Lempad learnt all about dance, religion and society, as well as a whole host of other skills.  His abilities improved rapidly and he soon be came known as a gifted member of the Ubud artistic community.

When he was 40 years of age he helped Waiter Spies to build his home in Campuhan, Ubud. Spies had felt a strong attraction to Bali due to its friendly people with their unique traditional culture and their beautiful environment. He loved to see life in the villages where people were planting rice, busy at the markets, and performing ceremonies almost daily, and he attempted to recreate what he saw on canvas.

One day Lempad was resting in between working on Spies' house in Campuhan. He was aimlessly sketching away on a piece of paper and Spies was most surprised at what he saw taking shape.  He very much admired Lempad's painting style and would 'buy' them in exchange for anything he had - shirts, cloth etc.    Lempad's family acknowledge that Spies was largely responsible for raising the standard of his work.  He would advise Lempad for example, that landscapes did not sell well, urging him instead to paint whatever came into his head and to concentrate on his trademark pieces.

According to Lempad, Spies was a gifted painter, although not particularly worthy of admiration, because he had been taught standard techniques and therefore had a head start over the Balinese, who at the time were selftaught, and this led Lempad to observe, " If we had the same basic training as Pis (his pronunciation of 'Spies') we could be as good as them."

Lempad finally concentrated on wayang paintings, with themes taken from the Ramay" M~h~ and Tantri epics, as well as Balinese folk tales.His famous piece Men Brayut depicts a mother being pestered by her countless children, and until today this remains a popular theme amongst Ubud painters, sculptors and carvers, both traditional and modern.

His style is a memorable one, as easy to remember as the sculpting style of Tjokot, for example.  He always painted in black and white using fine, strong and magical lines that seemed uninterrupted.  "Bare my paintings to the world so  that all can see both their beauty as well as their shortcomings.", he once said in response to a ques  tion as to why he didn't use colour

Many people wonder what could have been   going through Lempad's mind as he applied brush to canvas.  And Lempad developed the characters  he was depicting into fascinating people, althoughhe might only of heard about them in a story, or in  passing.  Whatever the source, all of his creations seemed taken from real life, and this is the key to  his success.

Lempad refused to refer to himself as a builder, even though he often worked closely in connection with building, especially that connected with  Hindu ceremonies.  He felt that ones role in society should not be determined by the individual,  but rather by society as a whole.  It is clear, though that his work on buildings was nothing short of  wondrous, and it wasn't ordinary folk who called on his skills, but puri family rnambers.  It was  Lempad who made the lembu (bull) and naga banda (dragon) for the cremation of the last king  of Gianyar in 1962.  He also did the same for acremation at Puri Ubud in 1973, even though he  was by that time very old indeed but no less energetic when it came to 'ngayah' - altruistic work for  the community.

As a painter Lempad was active in the formation of Pita Maha - an arts organisation led by three benefactors: Tjokorde Gde Agung Sukawati,  Walter Spies, and Rudolf Bonnet, in 1935.   The organisation was led by Spies and a number of  Balinese artists right through to the 1950 s. The group also taught any young up-and-coming artists in Ubud who seemed to show aptitude.

It was through Pita Maha that Spies and Bon net were able to introduce western painting, which caused something of a renaissance in local style.  As far as possible, Spies and Bonnet urged young artists to look at their surroundings - the rice fields,  the markets, social and religious life, and the daily life of the people.

To give Pita Maha meaning, Spies and Bonnet   introduced work produced by the organisation to visitors from abroad.  They even staged exhibitions  at home, and also abroad, in Holland for example.

As long as he was alive Lempad was never far   from wood, paper, pencil, or Chinese ink.  This is one of the reasons, they say, that he was able to  live such a long life.  One of the interesting aspects of his work is perhaps their imperfections .Not one is free of remaining sketchings and pen  cil marks, which he just left there for *11 to see.  Is this a personal idiosyncrasy?  He himself acknowl  edged that he regarded all of his works to be unfinished, and there was always room for improve  ment in accordance with inspiration which cancome at any moment.

In his work, although he was for a long time   connected with Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet, he was never taken in by them to the extent that  most Balinese artists were.  "Lempad was obviously born Lempad, and his unique style had - it  seemed  already been predetermined.  His modem wayang style featured very basic brush strokes.  His strokes bear an extremely personal character, and 1 feet that even today there's no  body who can match him," profered the great modem painter Nyoman Gunarsa dur  ing a moment of admiration.

The materials used by Lempad were  simple: Chinese ink, pen, paper.  And yet we still see a strength of line and accuracy, and  an uncanny ability to quote and to fortn character.  His paintings which are now housed  in the Puri Lukisan Museum, and in the Neka Art Gallery, rarely feature colour, except perhaps to introduce accent or to strengthen certain features.  In free-painting,  he kept his work in albums according to themes - Jayaprana and Dukuh Suladri, for  example.

Lempad was an amazing master of his   craft.  Most of his themes came from theMahabharata and Tantri epics, along with  folk stories - love stories, even!   However, even his creation kama sutira cannot be seen  as pornography, but rather as a work of art.He arrived on the art scene as a self-mo tivated natural.  His works never appeared in the art shops and galleries which today  can either make or break new figures.   No, he achieved his greatness without recourse  to the gallery system and commercial pro-motion.  Don't be surprised then if you have  problems finding a Lempad.   If you're really interested, then you'd best go to his house  for information.

Art lovers everywhere paid close attention to  Lempad throughout his career, including the Indonesian government, who, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Indonesian Independence, presented him with an honorary reward and a golden
medal along with Rp100,000, which he irnmediately gave to his grandchildren who used it to buy a motor car.  Other awards included the Udayana Award in 1975, and the Wijaya Kusuma and Dharma Kusuma trophies. Lempad and his work were also captured on film by Lome Blair and John Darling in conjunction with Australian television.  The film Lempad of Bali received the Mitra award as best documentar at the 26th Asian film festival in 1980 in Yogyakarta.  Meanwhile the Sanggar Dewata Indonesia added credence to his name with the creation of the Lernpad Prize.  Lempad deserved it all, and more, if compared to the service he did to the Balinese people and their art.

In this respect PandeWayan SutejaNeka,  the owner of Neka Museum, where there can  be found  a pavillion containing 18 examples of Lempad's work, has some interesting tales to tell.   When he first began to look for Lempad paintings, he admits being somewhat apprehensive.  However, one day he plucked up the courage to speak to Lempad during a temple ceremony.  "Without much to do, Lempad invited me to come to his house when it pleased me. 1 then started sav ing money so as to buy some of his paintings."

One afternoon Neka went to Lempad's house  with a wallet full of cash, and Lempad invited him to choose for himself.  "My heart beating fast, I  chose a painting called Bertemunya Durma dengan sang Ibu, wondering whether or not I  would be able to afford it." However when he asked about the price, Lempad said he needn't pay  because it was clearly to be used as part of a collection and not sold on for profit.