Popo Iskandar (17 December 1927 – 29 January 2000) was a painter, a prominent Indonesian art educator, literature critic and an essayist.

Life

Popo Iskandar was born in Garut,

West Java West Java (, ) is an Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to t ...

. His father, R.H. Natamihardja is a retired bank clerk. Since childhood his father expected Popo to become an architect. Although he failed in architecture, he managed to get a baccalaureate degree in mathematics. Popo began his painting education during the Japanese rule in Indonesia. After that, he entered the

Bandung Institute of Technology The Bandung Institute of Technology (; , abbreviated as ITB) is a public research university located in Bandung, Indonesia. It has produced many notable leaders in science, engineering, politics, business, academia, and culture. ITB is one of th ...

(ITB) in 1953. He had taught at IKIP Bandung. Angkama, his older brother who works as a HIS drawing teacher, greatly influenced Popo's interest in painting. Popo had received guidance from two teachers, namely Hendra Gunawan and Barli Samitawinata. Popo's paintings were heavily influenced by his teacher at the Department of Fine Arts, ITB, Ries Mulder from the Netherlands, who painted in the Cubism and Abstract schools of thought. At the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design (FSRD-ITB), he worked alongside artists such as A.D. Pirous, Ahmad Sadali,

Mochtar Apin Mochtar Apin (23 December 1923 – 1 January 1994) was an accomplished Indonesian painter, illustrator, writer and tenured lecturer who taught fine arts at the Bandung Institute of Technology, ITB. He was co-founder of the Arena of Independe ...

and

Umi Dachlan Umi Dachlan, born Umajah Dachlan, (13 August 1942 - 1 January 2009), was a pioneering Indonesian painter and an art lecturer. She graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design at the Bandung Institute of Technology ITB in 1968 as the third f ...

. However, the influence of Hendra Gunawan's realism was strong enough that in his development, Popo found his own style in painting.''Popo Iskandar''. Ensiklopedi Tokoh Kebudayaan IV, Departmen Pendidikan Nasional Jakarta, Jakarta, 1999, hlm. 103-10

/ref> He is a painter with strong characteristic in his expressive painting style, especially in his figurative expression, where he became a role model for the next generation of painters. Popo liked to paint cats, earning the nickname "cat painter". His famous motives are "Cat" and "Rooster". However, he also paints numerous other themes from the nature.{{Cite web, url=http://archive.ivaa-online.org/pelakuseni/popo-iskandar, title=Indonesian Visual Art Archive {{! Karya-Karya Popo Iskandar, website=archive.ivaa-online.org, language=en, access-date=2017-09-21 Popo frequently participated in painting exhibitions, both domestically and abroad. In 1976, he held a solo exhibition in The Hague, Netherlands. In 1980, he was awarded the Anugerah Seni Negara by the Indonesian Government for his artistic achievements.''Popo Iskandar''. Ensiklopedi Tokoh Kebudayaan IV, Departmen Pendidikan Nasional Jakarta, Jakarta, 1999, hlm. 103-10

/ref> Apart from being a painter and educator in art education, Popo Iskandar is also known as an art thinker and critic. He likes to write essays about art and culture in various mass media. He was elected chairman of BPB Kiwari Bandung in 1960 and a life member of the Jakarta Academy in 1970.

Bibliography

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Affandi Affandi (18 May 1907 – 23 May 1990) was an Indonesian artist. Born in Cirebon, West Java, as the son of R. Koesoema, who was a surveyor at a local sugar factory, Affandi finished his upper secondary school in Jakarta. He gave up his studies to p ...

: A New Path in Realism'' (Jakarta, 1977) * History of Indonesian Fine Arts (Jakarta, 1982) published by the Directorate of Culture, Ministry of Education and Culture. * Naskah ''Pre-Persagi Indonesian Painting'' * 55 Years of Paintings by Popo Iskandar: Image and Thought. Mamannoor, Published by Yayasan Matra Media Bandung, 1998, 188 Pages.

References

Academic staff of Bandung Institute of Technology 20th-century Indonesian painters 20th-century Indonesian male artists