BALI Featured Artist IDA BAGUS MADE

Ida Bagus Made came from a Brahman family of accomplished artists in Tampaksiring, Bali. His Father, Ida Bagus kembeng (1897–1952), was a well-known painter who won the prestigious Silver Medal in 1937 at the International Colonial Art Exposition in Paris. Ida Bagus Made first learned painting and carving from his father. He later studied painting under the guidance of Rudolf Bonnet. Bonnet once wrote that Ida Bagus Made was one of the most talented artists in Bali. He was in his teens when the modernization of Balinese art began in the late 1920s, and only 21 years old when he joined the prestigious Pitamaha Artist Guild, founded in 1936 to preserve Balinese art from the threat of tourism and commercialism.

He was known by the Balinese as a ritual specialist for carving sacred masks imbued with magical powers for the surrounding temples of Ubud. As a traditional painter of the Pitamaha generation, he became known worldwide for his artistic mastery.

He died after an illness in 1999. In 2000, following the artist’s last wish, the widow of Ida Bagus Made loaned over 100 paintings from the artist’s private collection to the Puri Lukisan Museum for safekeeping.

In July of 2008, a posthumous solo exhibition was held in Museum Puri Lukisan in Bali. This exhibition features paintings from the estate of maestro Ida Bagus Made Poleng and celebrates the visual artistry of one of the foremost painters of Ubud. Fifty paintings from the estate of the artist was presented to the public for the first time. It is accompanied by a catalog: “Ida Bagus Made – the Art of Devotion” Ida Bagus Made - Wikipedia