Dissertation
Indonesian modern art historiography: national and transnational perspectives
On Wednesday 5 February 2025 Milan Ismangil successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.
- Author
- A.T.H. Siregar
- Date
- 05 February 2025
- Links
- Leiden Repository
In 1976, President Soeharto called for the writing of Indonesian art history. Several years later, the Indonesian government published the book Sejarah Seni Rupa Indonesia (Indonesian Art History) through the Ministry of Education and Culture (Sejarah Seni Rupa Indonesia). This book, published in 1979, is a vital reference for teaching Indonesian art history. It is the first and only book to use the word 'history' in its title. However, this book and other publications on the same subject have many problems. One is the dominance of a nationalist perspective, which denies the role of transnational actors and their historical development. This perspective leads to poor disclosure of historical sources, affecting art history's continuity and discontinuity. In turn, this reality obscures the understanding of changes in the development of modern Indonesian art. How do we reduce the rigid linearity inherent in the national canonical narrative? What are the consequences of excessive nationalism in the writing of art history? How do we challenge the discourse by reintegrating the voices of marginalized or neglected individuals into the historical record? These are the questions that I will address in this study.
Supervisor: Prof.dr. M. Klokke
Co-supervisor: Prof.dr. C.J.M. Zijlmans