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Admiraal, Simon [5 ]

Batavia, 20 februari 1903 - April 1992

Biografie: Simon Admiraal

Born in Batavia, Simon Admiraal was sent to the Netherlands for his high-school education, after which he studied at the The Hague Art Academy (Tekenacademie Den Haag). Soon after his marriage in 1924, he returned to Batavia (present-day Jakarta).

At first he worked as a commercial artist, and was appointed as drawing teacher at the technical school of Batavia in 1925. During the 1930s he designed advertorial posters and was mentioned in the same breath as the famous Jan Lavies. In addition to illustrations for posters and magazines, he also designed contemporary furniture. In 1939 the Admiraal family obtained leave of absence to travel to the Netherlands, but due to the threat of WWII they decided to return to Batavia early in 1940.
After being interned in 1943, Simon Admiraal stayed at Camp Cimahi, but was later transferred to Sumatra to work on the notorious Pekanbaru Railway. Because of the harsh and brutal regime, many prisoners died during this period, which lasted until the capitulation of Japan on August 15, 1945.

Admiraal and his family were not reunited until 1946. In the chaotic Bersiap period (August 1945 – December 1946), he lost his son whilst trying to arrange the reunion of his family. After a few months’ stay at Perth, the family returned to Jakarta in June 1946; Admiraal had been contracted to rearrange the university’s library.

In 1947, Simon Admiraal was commissioned to found the Academy of Bandung. He was able to recruit his friend and artist Ries Mulder to become teacher at the art academy. For Admiraal, the Bandung Institute had to be more than a mere teachers training course. From the beginning, this school was also meant to deliver professional artists. The teachings of Admiraal and especially of Mulder, both practical and theoretical, have been an important contribution to the spreading of ‘modernism’ in Indonesia. At the time, however, their art was criticised as not having enough ‘Indonesian soul’. Due to health issues, Admiraal had to retreat from his role as supervisor and teacher; he appointed Ries Mulder as his successor in 1949. The pupils at Bandung found their own way in painting after Mulder left Indonesia in 1958. Admiraal had also returned to the Netherlands, where he worked as an art teacher at the technical school of Utrecht. He passed away in 1992, sitting behind his easel.
The use of geometrical shapes like triangles, squares, and rectangles is typical of the work of Admiraal and Mulder as well as their pupils at the Academy of Bandung. 

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