The Folk Art of Java

Overview

This book serves as an introduction to the folk arts of Java as determined by the Javanese themselves. It features objects associated with traditional games and toys, reverse paintings on glass that reflect Hindu-Buddhist and Islamic traditions, various representations in Javanese society of the servant-clowns in the Wayang theatre, ceramics that reflect folklore and ritual, naive folk painters, traditiional children's art, and such objects as roof tiles, bronze bells, brass votive figures, and village masks and puppets. The book underscores the great importance of these components of traditional material culture in both the past and present development of Indonesia, and calls for serious research and continued promotion of these arts and crafts that so strikingly reflect the creative vitality and the economic resources of the Javanese people.