Javanese Reverse Glass Paintings
On Saturday, 19 October 2019, Professor Jérôme Samuel, from INALCO in Paris, presented a FASS seminar entitled 'Representation of the Ottomans/Turks In Javanese reverse glass paintings'.
Indonesian reverse painting on glass is rarely studied becasue it is considered to be one of Java's 'minor' arts. Produced mainly by Javanese painters for urban and rural Javanese, it was also much appreciated by Chinese and Arab communities. Its golden age was betwen the 1930s and 1960s. An expression of mixed modernity, combining Javanese, European and Islamic features, the themes ranged from so-called 'traditional' Javanese wayang figures and mosques to new technologies and the depiction of modern lifestyles in the Dutch East Indies. At a time when photography was expensive, it was also a way that people recorded images of themselves for posterity.