Poortenaar, J. C.
De Boroboedoer bij volle maan. [Borobudur under a full moon]
Naarden, the artist, ca. 1926-1928. Original etching (40.0 x 48.8 cm) on large, oblong paper (50 x 63.5 cm) verso blank. Signed by the artist.
The largely self-taught artist Jan Christiaan Poortenaar (1886-1958) went to Indonesia in 1922 and returned to the Netherlands in 1926. "His work was selected for the International Colonial Exhibition in Paris in 1931, which was unfortunately destroyed by fire... in the 'Tropenmuseum' in Amsterdam, there is a large collection of his paintings" (Haks & Maris). In 1929, Poortenaar published a work titled " De Boroboedoer. Zes etsen door Jan Poortenaar, Inleiding van Prof. Dr. N. J. Krom", but the six Borobudur etchings in this work are different and much smaller. Nevertheless, it seems that the "moonlight" etching was made more or less simultaneously. Slight fraying and chipping to the edges, otherwise a fine copy. Haks & Maris, Lexicon: p. 212.