| A Dutch man born in Belgium in 1886.
His father was an noted painter and taught at the Amsterdam Art Academy. His students
included several painters who would later work in the Dutch East Indies. Dake was an
acclaimed member of the Impressionistic Laren School, when the desire for adventure
brought him to the East where he settled permanently. He was one of the most successful
painters of the impressionistic "Beautiful Indies School" of painting which
dominated the Dutch East Indies during the pre-WW II period. This style was later
condemned by the first native Indonesian modernists who rejected it in favor of a rawer
expressionism reflecting their revolutionary spirit and concern with social injustice. As
the name of the group indicates, his paintings seek to capture the beauty and mystery of
the Orient. While Dake is clearly an impressionist, we can see in his work the influence
of Van Gogh’s landscapes. His favorite Balinese subject was temple gates with
wonderfully twisted frangipani trees. He was interned by the Japanese after their invasion
and died in Batavia. |
