Antonio blanco paintings. Blanco Renaissance Museum, Bali

When Don Antonio Blanco created in Bali Blanco Museum Renaissance, he imagined his destiny as a reflection of his raucous, unkempt creative inner life. Not only would the Blanco Museum house his sexy, humorous artwork, it also served as home to his growing family.

If you're in Ubud, Bali, this monument to artistic creativity (or originality, depending on your sensitivity) is well worth the 2-hour walk. The museum is a memorial to Blanco, who passed away in 1999, just before the museum was finished. This is a psychological self-portrait of the owner himself: eccentric, wildly creative, and with the ability to both inspire and destroy. First of all, the museum, like the work of its owner, is dedicated to Bali.

For other art collections in Ubud, you can visit several more art galleries and museums in Ubud, Bali.

Biography of Antonio Blanco

Don's ancestors Antonio Blanco were Catalans - Spanish immigrants to Southeast Asia who settled in Manila in the Philippines. Blanco was born in Manila and learned the art while he was growing up.

After graduating from high school, Blanco went on to study at the National Academy of Art in New York, where his lifelong fascination with female forms began. After settling in Ubud, Bali in 1952, Blanco married a famous Balinese dancer and settled on two hectares of land donated to him by the royal court of Ubud. When he died in 1999, his cremation was a big event in Ubud.

Balinese cremation, or ngaben, is the main initiation rite in Balinese culture.

Throughout his life, Blanco's works earned him the Spanish knighthood (Cruz de Caballero) and the Chevalier du Sahametra of Cambodia, as well as the Tiffany Fellowship and the Honolulu Artists Society Special Award. Today, Antonio Blanco's artworks are raffled off at auction among collectors from all over the world.

Don Antonio Blanco's personality - an artistic jester, lover of women - finds expression both in his artwork and in the house he built for his family.

The five-acre property near the Campuheng River contains an art museum that has a rather outrageous design, a family home, a temple, a restaurant and a gift shop.

Visitors enter the museum through a round gate. They walk through a menagerie of various animals, a trimmed lawn with a giant fountain in the middle, facing a 50-foot green marble sculpture that serves as the decorative gateway to the museum. The sculpture is modeled after Blanco's own design.

Once upon a time there was an artist named Antonio Blanco in Bali. He is Spanish by origin, and, perhaps, living in Spain he would not have become especially famous, but having moved to the island of the Gods, with his extraordinary approach to art, he diluted the crowd of traditional Balinese artists, thereby earning himself fame. Indeed, it is difficult not to notice his work among the other paintings that you can find in Bali's museums. In the heart of the island - in Ubud - there is the Blanco Museum, which tells about the artist's work, showing his works, as well as his house and a beautiful garden with tropical birds on the territory of the museum. In general, a pretty pleasant place where I invite you to walk too;)

I heard about this museum earlier, even before my trip to the island, but somehow I did not notice any particular urge to visit it. I don’t know why :) Nevertheless, on the main streets of Ubud you can often find signs with directions on how to get to the museum. Apparently, it really is considered a very popular attraction. Therefore, when the next evening I didn't want to sit at home, and there were no special thoughts and plans, Mishutka and I jumped on a motorbike and rushed straight to the "Blanco Abbey".

To some extent, this is really the whole residence of the artist, and not just a separate building dedicated to his work. First, a large blooming area.

There are also nice little houses in which members of the Blanco family used to live.

I barely found the entrance to the museum itself. There he is, how unusually hid.

The ticket cost 50,000 rupees, i.e. about 5 US dollars.

And literally right after the entrance, we stumbled upon colorful tropical birds. Mishutka waves, shouting: "Hello, toucan!")))

The birds are not tied, but they sit on the branches and do not fly away. I don’t know why.

Maybe their wings were clipped, maybe something else. Some gnawed at the trunk of the tree with relish, and I really thought it might be narcotic for them.

And after all, they really all clumped together only on it. It's strange somehow.

For a separate tip, a museum employee put parrots in the hands of tourists so that they could take a picture with a bird. The same thing happened in the Monkey Forest, only there the employees put primates on people) Mishutka and I preferred to stay away from the unpredictable inhabitants of the jungle.

The museum itself is of a very strange shape. Reminds me of Shiva. The entrance is between the legs)

It is guarded by dragons. In principle, the general atmosphere of Hinduism that dominates Bali has been preserved.

Filming was forbidden inside !! Although I saw reports from other bloggers about this museum where everything was allowed to be photographed. Apparently the rules have changed in recent years. I did "click" a little, otherwise I can't name it, tk. the guard followed my tail.

It is inconvenient that the camera shutter clicks quite loudly, the museum was empty and quiet, so it is immediately clear that I am shooting.

The artist's style is very original, very sophisticated and light in feeling, it is pleasant to look at his paintings. But here's the main plot - naked women.

This is hard to see, the truth, again for the reason that I photographed everything in stealth, but even the frames with an erotic inclination.

The artist also made frames for his paintings himself, complementing the plot on canvas with it. Despite the fact that not everyone may like them, although in my opinion you need to perceive everything easier, they are essentially unique and unusual, you can see how much effort and soul is invested in them. This makes them really special!

The museum building is three-story. We climbed to the very top and found ourselves on a terrace overlooking an almost provincial Ubud.

Rice fields, forests and thatched roofs of local buildings - can you say that this is the center of the city? But the museum is located in the center of Ubud :)

Beautiful sculptures of Balinese girls and men, frozen in a traditional dance.

We went down the spiral staircases back “to the ground”.

And we ended up in a room like this, where there are already paintings of Antonio Blanco's son - Mario Blanco.

He no longer painted women, but in general something abstract, and in a completely different style than his father.

Here are some photos of the family ...

... as well as all kinds of awards, newspaper clippings and other reminders of the artist's fame.

Straight from this room we find ourselves in the studio of Antonio Blanco.

The artist painted his works while standing in a hole in the floor. Now it is covered with boards, but looking closely you can see that the legs of the easel go down. That was probably more convenient for Antonio. And how beautifully the light falls on this place, darkening the rest of the room!

There are many things in the studio here in memory of the artist's friendship with Michael Jackson.

Both photographs and paintings ...

... and even such a "attraction". The Bali woman, giggling, asked a group of Russian guys what was crowding around, they say, what color is Michael Jackson's ... ummm, penis? Black or is it white? Here he hid under his hat. Think they say! And you think :)

In general, everyone was in a stupor, and under the hat there was an ordinary red carrot)) Baliyka laughed like that in Asian way, but our humor did not understand :) I, in general, did not really understand either, but the reaction of the guys from the outside it was funny to watch :)))

After the workshop, we went through some kind of rest room ...

And finally they went out into the street again. There was a lovely fountain-spring here.

Mishutka gazes at him with enthusiasm, and apparently the flowing water hypnotized him, because the very next moment after this shot, I only heard the savory "BULTYKH". The child dived into this fountain \u003d)) It’s not deep and not cold and clean, but Misha’s screeching, of course, spread throughout the museum))) Everyone ran at once, screamed, laughing simultaneously \u003d)

I hardly distracted the child only with instruments such as a xylophone, on which a wet Mishutka hammered with a hammer, sometimes still sobbing offended \u003d)

After we were so wet, we still wandered into a restaurant (how good the tropical climate is, when you don't hurry off your damp clothes!), In which we tasted some delicious free juice or whatever. Please be aware that a free drink is included with your admission ticket.

I didn't order anything on the menu, so I left, blowing out a glass \u003d)

But I was offered to stay and wait, tk. at 19.30 hours the performance of Balinese dancers in traditional costumes began. This concert was also free.
If you want to suddenly find yourself on this, then it takes place at the Museum Blanco at 19.30 hours three times a week - on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

In my opinion, a great set of "buns" for $ 5 - and you have a bird park, a museum and all kinds of fountains in the most beautiful well-groomed area, as well as a drink in the restaurant on the terrace, and a traditional dance concert!

And even though it was already sunset time, I still did not wait for the concert. Mishutka is all damp, but it will get dark very soon, and we still have to go home. In general, we left without waiting for the beautiful apsaras, but still we never regretted that we looked into such a wonderful place.

Antonio Blanco is a renowned Balinese artist of Hispanic-American origin. Until the age of 40, he was an unremarkable Californian artist, but then he moved to travel across the Pacific Ocean, a la Gauguin, visited a bunch of countries and settled in Bali in 1952, falling in love with a local dancer.

In those days, it was the norm for local women to walk with open breasts. Baliek's chest has perfect forms due to the tradition of carrying heavy loads on the head - this forms posture and develops back muscles. Plus picturesque rice terraces and the widespread friendliness of the Balinese - why not stay?

Antonio married his dancer, she bore him four children, and he went into work. He wrote mainly nudity - with cool tits and depraved positions. The people liked it, local princes and rulers began to buy his paintings, the head of Ubud (the former president of Eastern Indonesia) gave him a large plot in a beautiful place on the banks of the river, where Antonio built his house-museum. Soon Antonio became quite famous, his paintings began to appear in the collections of world stars up to Michael Jackson, he himself received all sorts of titles and died at the end of 1999, at the age of 88. As a Hindu, he was cremated and his ashes scattered over the sea. A year before his death, he managed to officially open his museum with the help of relatives, which became the pearl of Ubud, and indeed of the whole of Bali.

The museum consists of two parts - a courtyard with parrots, cockerels, a restaurant and a fountain, and a huge house with a completely mad look with dragons at the entrance and dancers on the roof - this is the museum itself.

Parrots are cool. Big, talkative and arrogant. One of them, a white cockatoo, flies around the territory with loud cries, almost touching the heads of visitors. On the green lawns they are nursing like carved handsome cockerels, a huge toucan swallows papaya, there is a sweet pastoral beauty all around.

Photography is prohibited in the museum itself, so I will use other people's photographs.

Antonio Blanco's painting is expressive and bright. Of course, he does not reach Dali, although he is called "Dali from Bali" - there is not enough schizophrenia and scope. Girls in all of Antonio's paintings have unrealistically strong tits, as in schoolchildren's pictures or in comics. Most of the paintings are behind glass, on which, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe "shameful place" of the model, is sprayed with paint from a spray can to match the general tone of the picture - this, however, does not interfere with the general perception. Why this is done is not clear. On the one hand, Indonesia is a Muslim country, on the other, the island of Bali itself is Hindu, here every hundred meters there are demonic statues with such swollen genitals that even a pornocrat will be embarrassed.

Frames give a special charm to the paintings - here they are definitely mad, all with their own plot, sometimes to match the picture, sometimes separate, some are indecently chic, some are simply knocked down from rotten boards. I think Antonio provided a good job for the local cabinetmakers.

Antonio Blanco (1911-1999) is Spanish by blood, but was born and raised in Manila. He spoke five languages. During his life he worked as a stuntman, actor, musician.

Portrait of the artist's wife, dancer Ni Ronji.

In the 1950s, he moved to Bali. The artist was partial to Indonesian dancing and was married to a famous dancer.

Although many talented artists worked on the island, the name of Antonio Blanco became its symbol, he is called "Dali of the Bali Islands". For his contribution to the development of painting on about. Bali, the last king of Ubud (1) Tjokorda Jed Agung Sukawati (1910-1978) gave him two hectares of land on a hill above the gorge of the Tjampuhan River, where the master's house was soon built according to his own sketch. Construction began in 1952. Now his museum is located in this house. A spiral staircase leads to the upper platform of the museum. There, along the cornice, there are sculptures of the master's wife.

Portrait of Michael. At the top of the frame is a Balinese gong.

Antonio was a huge fan of Michael Jackson. Among his works there are several paintings depicting the singer. In 1993 they met in Singapore at The Raffles Hotel, Michael signed his portraits by the artist. Some of these paintings were sold and all the money was donated to children with cancer.
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Note: (1) -Ubud is the ancient cultural center of the island, dating back to the 8th century. It is a sophisticated retreat surrounded by rolling hills and paddy fields, picturesque gorges, dense tropical jungle and rivers. The landscapes of Ubud and its surroundings are some of the most beautiful in Asia. However, there are no white beaches and ocean waves nearby. Paradise begins with rice terraces crossed by small rivers. Ubud is considered the cultural center of the island. A large number of museums are concentrated here. This is the best place for those who want to combine a pleasant relaxing holiday with an introduction to the culture of Bali.

A. Blanco Museum.

Thanks for the photo and memories, Maria Dubrovskaya:

"How many times have I stood in Ubud at the beautiful gates of the Antonio Blanco Museum, like a convenient landmark to meet guests and friends, but I managed to get inside only just before leaving at the end of September. I was already told," Well, yes, it is beautiful "and" there are big live birds in the garden! "I imagined my trip like this: I will take a glimpse of the museum itself and the paintings, what could be there? and get stuck with the birds, it's worth going for them. As a result, I walked around the museum twice , accidentally met the artist's wife, came out with her eyes in a wet place, glanced at the birds and left under the strong impression of everything she saw.

Antonio Blanco lived and worked quite recently, some 10 years ago one could get acquainted with him in his house on a hill at the confluence of two rivers. Now his house has become a museum. And the word "museum" for me, like many children of the scoop, is associated with something naphthalene, dusty. But in Ubud, even the museum is not like that, especially the former home of such an interesting person.

I didn’t know anything about him until recently. Only there was an idea that it was someone like a local Gauguin - a European artist who settled in the tropics and loved swarthy islanders.)) It turned out that Antonio was Spanish by birth, but grew up in Manila in the Philippines. He lived and studied in the United States until, as they write, he was "called back by the Pacific Islands." Blanco almost left for Tahiti like Gauguin, but he was carried away to Bali, where he fell in love with Ubud, Bali culture and the dancer Ni Ronji. She became his muse, and he never left these places again and fed on the powerful inspiration that Ubud can give.

This is the very gate that I have visited many times. They are already beginning to intrigue with golden curls:






There are really big birds in the garden. I remembered that I often heard their screams, driving past the territory of the house-museum.




They sit quietly without cages and examine the visitors with no less curiosity.

The entrance to the house-museum is decorated with a huge and slightly ominous-looking structure. It turned out to be the world's largest artist signature. The same signs are in all of Blanco's paintings and are often crowned with frames.


I wanted to first explore the territory, and then go inside. I went to the house on the outskirts, but just in time I came across a sign "private house", they say, further not for the public. From there came a slender granny, very intelligent in appearance, but with a rather heavily painted face. She shook my hand, introduced herself as some kind of Blanco, a tricky, but somehow familiar name (I thought it was his daughter) and asked who, where I was from and how long in Ubud. Looks like my answers surprised her. She asked me to tell my friends about the museum and advise me to see it with my own eyes. No problem! What I'm doing now. But then I hadn’t been inside yet, hadn’t read the brochure and therefore had a lot of brakes. A little later I realized that it was Ni Ronji herself, Antonio Blanco's wife. It is she who is depicted on a large poster with a reproduction of Antonio's painting by the road next to the museum. I saw this poster a thousand times, passing by, but I could not even imagine that a beautiful dancer from this picture would get to know me, even if she was already a grandmother.)


Here she goes up to the house built by her husband. Unfortunately, Blanco's muse, Ni Rondji, died literally the day before yesterday (the article was published on 09.11.2010, my comment).

The first floor and the second floors of the main premises of the museum showcase Blanco's most famous paintings of the last.





And on the second floor, in the most honorable place, hangs the same portrait of Ni Ronji in a dance.


The paintings themselves are very delicate and graceful, and the frames in which they are dressed and which Blanco made himself are simply amazing. At first they seem too massive and sometimes even kitsch, but then you notice how organically they look with the paintings themselves, and it becomes no less interesting to look at them.


In some places, glass bottles are woven, somewhere even soap, and one of the large frames has a roof made of black "straw" like in Balinese temples.
If you think roughly, the main subjects of his paintings are dancing, drunkenness and debauchery)) Well, also self-portraits. But the technique is so elegant that ... Damn, I do not have enough culturological education and language to adequately describe it. In general, the impression remains excellent.


In addition to watercolors, oils and lithographs, there are many collages among the creations, where even clippings from modern magazines appear. One smoothly turns into another and the collage with Michael Jackson is not even surprising. Blanco knew him.

The "erotic" hall of the museum contains the most shocking paintings by Blanco, who was also called the master of self-promotion and "Dali from Bali". There, in order to consider indecent details, you need to open the shutters of the frame.


Self-portrait of young Blanco and portrait of Ni Rongi.


To the left of the main hall and behind the erotic room is the area where Blanco worked.
I don’t know what this room was intended for, perhaps for storing pictures and frames.

Workshop.


A room with paintings by Antonio and Ni Rongi's son, Marco Blanco. He is no less talented artist, but much less shocking. His paintings are calm, his frames are more modest. These are mainly light airy still lifes.

There is also a small library, where I found myself as in one of my frequent dreams - a bunch of interesting and beautiful books on old dusty shelves, and you can touch everything. There is even his collection of audio tapes there)

Balinese open room. The museum ends there. Although there is also a souvenir shop, it was closed at the time. There is also Ni Ronji's restaurant, but I did not go there.


It was a pity to go out, I also wanted to examine and examine. The price for a visit of 50 thousand rupees even seemed to me low for such splendor. If I find myself in Ubud again, I will definitely go again.


The main page of the museum's website cannot yet direct to internal ones, but through this link http://www.blancomuseum.com/sitemap.html you can go to almost all internal pages (see paintings and lithographs), except for "blankography", that is, biographies artist ".

Bali is famous not only for its beach holiday, but also for its cultural life. There are temples, palaces, castles and three dozen museums of different directions. Some of them are devoted to painting and other types of art, others - to the history of the island and the customs of the Balinese. One of the most interesting exhibitions is the Antonio Blanco Museum. It is worth visiting here on your own or as part of one of the excursions.

Who is Antonio Blanco

Don Antonio Blanco is a Filipino artist of Spanish descent. An ordinary man in the street has hardly heard his name, but the artist's work deserves attention. Born maestro in 1911 in the Philippines, he studied at the New York Academy of Arts. After long wanderings around the world and looking for a suitable place, he settles in Bali, deciding to abandon Tahiti, popular among artists of that time.

Here he found the woman of life - the Balinese dancer Ni Ronji, who became his muse. The artist died in 1999, leaving behind many paintings and a beautiful museum. To this day, the building is taken care of by the son of Mario and the same Ni Ronji, who is now in old age.

Features of creativity

Most of Blanco's paintings depict naked Balinese, mostly women. Also among the common subjects are festivities and erotic scenes. In addition to the artist's works, you can see paintings by his son, whose style exactly copies his father's.

What is remarkable about the museum

The Antonio Blanco House Museum is located in Ubud. This is not at all the institution that citizens of the countries of the former USSR imagine when they hear the word "museum". There are no dusty naphthalene stuffed animals and guides from whose stories you fall asleep. On the contrary, here you want to look at everything and stay longer. The attraction is located in the jungle, at the confluence of two small rivers.

The house is interesting for its architecture - European and Balinese styles have been intermingled in it. The entrance lobby is made in the form of a huge bizarre structure, which is the largest human signature in the world. This symbol is present in all paintings by the author. The museum has a garden with an impressive view of the Campuhan mountain range. Inside the building there is an exposition of the artist's works - paintings, prints and lithographs.

In addition to canvases, the interior of the house is complemented by easels and a large bedspread in the middle of the room - the maestro was sitting right on it, working on the paintings. Large windows let light into the house, creating a whimsical mystery atmosphere. But in fact, there are no secrets - all the questions will be answered by the artist's son, who lives right there.

The museum consists of many rooms, each of which covers a specific theme. In some there are canvases with naked ladies, in others canvases depicting festivities and feasts. A separate room is dedicated to erotic stories. Each painting is framed in a luxurious frame that you need to open yourself.

There are many artists living near the museum, so art lovers will have something to do. Even a cursory glance at the area is enough to understand why Blanco settled here - this is a real paradise with lush vegetation, very beautiful and friendly locals, from whom the artist painted his paintings.

Even those who are far from fine art will not be bored. If only because the surrounding area is a lush, humid tropical garden with exotic birds. Huge parrots and toucans do not sit in cages, but right on the branches, and do not fly away. The museum is recommended for visiting, first of all, for true connoisseurs of art, since not everyone will be able to appreciate the talent of Don Antonio Blanco at its true worth.