Modern Art in : An Outline of its Development (Part II) by Helen Michaelsen

still continued to be the institution AJecause of the Cold War, "only" awarding academic degress. and the looming spread of com- There was no art-conscious public, munism in Asia during the 50s, the no museum for modern art and no USA started to support pro-western appropriate venues for artistic countries in the Asian region. The US exhibitions. support for Thailand in 1951 and The annual National Art Exhi- 1957, came in the form of military aid bition and the exhibitions occasional- amounting to $149 M. This aid stead- ly arganized by foreigh embassies for ily increased, especially after the foreign artists were, more or less, the USA's military involvement in Viet- only exhibitions of modern art. The nam at beginning of the 60s. spectrum at the National Art Exhibi- The building up and the re- tion covered neo-traditional to structuring of the Thai economy, as modern western expressions. It was initiated by the USA and the World mainly influenced by artists from the older generation, from whom the Bank, prepared the ground for for- younger artists got their orientation. eign investors. The 60s, marked a tremendous economic growth, with Water by Thawan Duchanee, 1983. The group exhibition presented relative stability and greater liberal- by one Thai artist, in June 1961, at- ism. These all led to socio-cultural tracted a wider public for the first artists gained new exhibition venues. changes. time. Princess Chumphot of Nagara The economic boom was there- Svaga presided over the opening. She From this economic develop- fore the postulation and the conse- was a well-known figure deeply in- ment other fields such as education quences resulting from it formed the terested in art. Her presence at the ex- in Thailand, profited as well. Fur- frame for the enormous rise of activi- hibition drew interest to a field that thermore, foreign cultural institutes ties in the field of modern art, in the needed more public support. like AUA, British Council and beginning of the 60s. Goethe Institute assumed their activi- The University of Fine Arts and Because of her presence, quite ties in through which Thai the Arts and Crafts School, in 1960, a number of foreigners came to the

61 exhibition. British Michael Smithies Left: Position and Civilization by came and wrote an art review about Kamol Phaosavasdi, 1989. this exhibition. He wrote many arti- cles on modern Thai art. And, through his regular writing, he was able to reach at least the educated Thai public. The Thai press did not publish any art criticism, only photos. Works in the June 1961 exhibition did not show any innovation. Except for the Below : The Story of Metamorphosis in National Art Exhibition, which did the Farm by Montien Boonma, 1989. not receive much interest, there was no other exhibition in 1961. In the beginning of 1962 several exhibitions were organized, such as the ones by Princess Chumphot, the British Council and the Tourist Or- ganization of Thailand (TOT). The TOT exhibition primarily aimed at the presentation of paintings and drawings to be intended for sale to tourists. An exhibition was also or ganized by the Australian Embassy and held at in April 1962. This gave many Thai ar- tists, the opportunity to see oil paint- ings inoriginalby western artists for Ow ing to the initiative of some with short information about their the first time. private foreigners, two exhibitions of works. They also published essays on modern Thai art were organized and modern Thai art. For the first time, In May 1962, shown abroad. One was in Milwau- the contents and ways of representa- died. His death, however, did not kee, USA, and the other in the Alpine tion were discussed. But the only have an immediate negative effect on Club Gallery in London. Participat- magazine in Thai which dealt with the artists and the art scene of ing artists gained prestige in modern art and printed relevant arti- Thailand, because they had already Thailand through these exhibitions. cles was the 'Social Science Review.' found new mentors. In the middle of In addition, a number of exhibitions It was published by a Thai intellectu- 1962, the first private gallery, "Bang- by foreign artists were organzed. This al, Sulak Sivaraksa, and had its first kapi Gallery" was opened. Because brought Thai artists in touch with the issue in 1963. of its location, an area inhabited by art tendencies abroad. This exhibi- The National art Exhibition in foreigners, it had good market op- tion certainly encourages people to 1963, although opened by the King portunities. see and appreciate modern art. whose works were also exhibited, met In the 60s, foreign residents very little attention. The exhibition were the prime supporters and collec- The English language was not successful. It had too much tors of modern Thai art. These newspaper'Bangkok World' started of a national character, which means foreigners provided exhibition space at that time to print works of modern it did not explicitly refer to foreigners and began to own private collections Thai artists. Artists were featured on Moreover the general Thai public still of Thai paintings. the cover of their Sunday Magazine, did not have an approach to modern

62 Thai art. Therefore, the awarded tic manner. Starting from the as- interest in modern art among painting, "Faith", by Pichai Nirand sumption that the painting was the Thai public, with a few excep- went unnoticed, though it showed a awarded only because the King had tions, still remained very little. An art new theme for painting on canvas. It bought earlier works by this artist, interested audience was consequently represented a symbolic footprint of the criticism dealt further with the missing once again. As a result, most Buddha which is considered a sacred way of representation and the motive of the galleries and participations in cult object in Buddhism. of the painting. While the works of exhibitions went down. In the second half of 1963, the artists, which had been rejected by At the end of the 60s, most of amount of art exhibitions, mainly this exhibition, evolved around ab- the Thai artists returned to Thailand one-man shows by Thai and foreign stract paintings, the critics found from their studies aboad. This greatly artists, reached its culmination. With Prapat's work anachronistic. The influenced the expansion of the spec- up to seven openings a week, it was committee in response argued that it trum of rerpesentation of Thai an indication that art exhibitions had did not favor any particular art style. modern to western or international come "into fashion". Despite the reorganization of the tendencies with regards to their style, Besides the existing Bangkapi Gallery, seven other new galleries es- tablished themselves between June 1963 and mid-1964. However, they resembled gift shops more than professional art galleries. But the ar- tists saw the chance to sell their works and tried to be very productive within a short period of time. Moreover, their price expectations went incredi- bly up as well. The pronounced styles and ways of representation, however, re- mained more of less the same. In Sep- tember 1963, the works of painter, Anand Panin, nevertheless showed a new development towards the direc- tion of pure abstraction. Subsequent- Untitled by Panya Vijinthanasarn, 1984. ly, this also became visible in other artists' works. judging committee, the exhibition af- expression, technique and representa- The great variety exhibition op- terwards lost its meaning for many tion. Incidentally, although the term portunities and the relative success in artists. 'international art' is widely accepted, selling art works boosted the confi- At the end of 1964, the activi- one has to be critical about this term. dence of artists. It also ledto an inci- ties in the art sector decreased rapid- It can easily be misused and is often, dent in 1964, in which 14 artists ly. The main reason was that many in fact. heavily criticized and questioned the of the leading Thai artists went Following international art ten- judging committee of the 15th Na- abroad. They left almost at the same dencies, artists can be original or tional Art Exhibition. time because of scholarships received. mere copies. If only Thai artists make The award on the painting, This caused the new generation of use of these styles, expressions, tech- "Festival No. 2", by Prapat young artists to lose their models. niques or representations, and com- Yothaprasert wasthemain reasonfor Moreover, the foreigners' interest in bine them with theri own ideas or the dispute. The painting shows a the modern art scene subsided after concepts based on thier environment rural celebration done in a naturalis- the "artboom", from 1962 to 1964 and experiences, they will achieve a

63 synthesis. Successful examples are representation. The rest of the artists political or socio-cultural critical Montien Boonma, Kamol in this category make traditional themes are relatively isolated. Vasan Phaosavasdi and Thaiwijit Puang- representations in an epigonic way. Sitthidet or Paisan Thirapong- kasemsomboon. Otherwise, even In the beginning of the 70s, a wisanuporn, are examples of those with the term 'international art', they new tendency became visible. It who visualize thier social and political are simply imitators. The develop- referred directly to problems and awareness in their works. Themes ment in the direction of international abuses in society. It was an expres- concerning politics, Buddhism and art continued steadily and marked a sion of an emancipated political cons- the monarchy cannot be critically large field of contemporary art ciousness. Other parts of the dealt with in Thailand. nowadays. population, namely the new middle In summary, it could be said Parallel to this, a representation class, the intellectuals and students as that the interest in contemporary of specific, spiritual, or Buddhist well as certain artists did not want to Thai art has increased. Ranging from themes developed in a differentway. cope with the social abuses and mili- paintings to illustrations, the This marked the second large field in tary dictatorships under the cover of productions of artists are as numer- Thai contemporary art One mainly constitutional monarchy. Politically ous as the media. The expressions of has to distinguish between four main seen, this development led to mass the artists range from figurative to tendencies. demonstrations in the years 1973 and abstact. The representations cover all The firstgroup of artists, whose 1976. Brutal reactions by the military, the known styles. Nevertheless, the topics are spiritual and Buddhist, has against the people, resulted in Oc- interest is still missing in wide parts no reference at all to traditional tober 1976. of the population. There is still a lack paintings in their representation. One The artists of the 70s attempted of approach to and appreciation for of the leading artists in this group is to become the people's mouthpiece modern art. Works of art that have a Thawan Duchanee. It becomes obvi- by means of representations referring decisive decorative character or done ous in his works that he reduces the to society. For instance, they tried to in figurative way are the ones that motives to the essential, which means bring their art to the people by ex- receive recognition in terms of a good no decorative or unnecessary figures hibiting their works at the Democracy market. Each critical approach in art of motives. In addition, he reduces Monument. But their attempt as a and its presentation is rejected as the form of expression so that his whole, was not successful. negative and disturbing harmony. works gain a symbolic character. His Until today, artists dealing with style of representation reminds one of surrealism. REFERENCES Other artists adopted elememts from the traditional iconography and Bhirasri, Silpa. Contemporary Art in Thailand. Bangkok, 1959. its symbolic meanings. But their . Articles from the Catalogues of the Annual National Art works emerged in an individualis- Exhibition. Bangkok : The Fine Arts Department, 1963. tic manner. Leading this group is . Comments and Articles on Art. Bangkok : The National Association painter Panya Vijinthanasarn, who of Plastic Arts of Thailand, 1963. reduces his repertoire of forms to the Krairiksh, Piriya. Art since 1932. Bangkok : Thai Khadi Reserach Institute, minimum and to abstracts from the Thammasat University. Research Paper No. 17, 1982. figuration. His paintings, to a large Morell, David and Chai-anan Samudavanija. Political Conflict in Thailand. extent, also turn out to be symbolic- Reform, Reaction, Revolution. Cambridge, Mass., 1981. surrealistic. Rattanakosin Painting. Bangkok : The Committee for the Rattanakosin Bicentennial The third and largest group of Celebration. 1982. artists, whose works deal with Budd- Various Catalogues of Art Exhibitions covering both One-Man shows and Group hist themes and life in and around the Exhibitions. temple, still stick to a naturalistic or Wyatt, David K. Thailand : A Short History. London, New Haven. 1984. realistic, sometimes super-realistic,

64