Page 72 - Sidharta Auctioneer

Tiga Penari Legong by Rudy Pranadjaja

Lot #447

Rudy Pranadjaja’s travels to Bali sparked his interest in
painting Balinese subjects such as the three Legong dancers.
The expression of these three dancers becomes the main focus
of painting. The red lipstick donned on the dancers accentuate
the slight and faint smile as they pose and move through the
routine. Legong comes from the word “leg” which means
graceful dance movements and “gong” which means Gamelan

implying that the movements of a Legong dancer flows together
with the accompanying gamelan. The dancers have a strong, yet
graceful stance, moving harmoniously with each other while
appearing as a single entity.

More commonly, the Legong dance presents two dancers,
however in some cases a third dancer joins to complement the
two main dancers, who usually play the role of princesses. Rudy
paints a third dancer, a condong, as the dancer on the left by

distinguishing them from the two dancers facing each other.

Although he paints commonplace traditional Balinese dancers,
he does them in his own distinct style, differentiating him from
other painters.

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