LOT 39
YUSMAN AMAN
B. Johor, 1939
Eating Durian, 1980’s
Batik
84 x 56 cm
Private Collection, Canada
RM 2,000 – 5,000
Yusman Aman was born in Batu Pahat, Johor in 1939. He was known for being a self-taught artist, especially since he had declined a scholarship to the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the early 1960s due to family commitments. During his time in Singapore as a commercial artist, he exhibited regularly with other well-known artists and represented Singapore in the Adelaide Festival of Arts in the early 1970s. He returned to Malaysia after that and became the first local artist to open his own art gallery.
Yusman Aman started with figurative paintings before experimenting with lyrical abstraction. He rose to fame after utilising the traditional batik medium and incorporated modernist influences, as seen in his artwork ‘Eating Duran,1980’s, a depiction of two Malay women clad in modest attire, seated and indulging in durian.