Memory Of Kunstkring Building As Palace Of Art In The Dutch East Indies Period

Gedung Art Circle (Detha Arya Tifada / VOI)

JAKARTA - Menteng is an elite residential area in Jakarta which is famous for being comfortable and unique. This narrative is none other than because the master plan for Menteng as a settlement was made directly by a great architect of his time, Pieter Adriaan Jacobus (PAJ) Moojen. He was also the brain of the birth of a popular building in Menteng named Bataviasche Kunstkring.

That is why Menteng looks special from other settlements in the capital to this day. This is because PAJ Moojen, who is also an artist, treats Menteng as a masterpiece that is not only a place to live. In addition, PAJ Moojen also architected two equally magnificent buildings.

First, the Bouwploeg Building - Cut Muthia Mosque - which is the first building in Menteng which was completed in 1912. Second, the Bataviasche Kunstkring Building, which is one of the most respected art galleries in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) in 1914.

Both are interesting. However, considering that PAJ Moojen is an artist, it is Kunstkring Building that most attracts people to know Menteng. Moreover, Kunstkring which is taken from the Dutch language means circle of art, is the first building in the Dutch East Indies with reinforced concrete construction.

Not surprisingly, praise for this building came one by one. Then, the upper class Batavia residents made this building an elitist recreational destination. In fact, visiting there is a prestige for them.

To the extent that the same thing was felt by the famous Dutch architectural master, HP Belige, who visited in 1923. For him, Kunstkring was the early building of modern architecture in Indonesia. All because Kunstkring is designed with a unique architecture that smells of Art Neuveau in a wide, open and leafy environment.

Adolf Heuken in the book Menteng: The first Garden City in Indonesia (2001), did not forget to also praise Kunstkring as a building with rationalism in the architecture of the early 20th century. On that basis, the entire development has adopted rules which Moojen carefully considered.

"Rationalism emphasizes constructive elements such as walls and pillars that support the arrangement of stones, carefully and neatly to create beauty," he wrote.

Adolf Heuken also revealed Moojen as an architect who was able to create beauty with functional elements. “The facade of the Kunstkring building is typical with its two towers and three entrances flanked by similar looking windows. The five balconies above which have the same balustrade are the horizontal elements that unite the entire facade. "

Not surprisingly, Moojen has produced a simple form of building but looks neat and beautiful. Especially, the second part of the tower, which has a small dome roof, seems to welcome visitors who enter the Menteng area and the art exhibition building itself.

For this reason, this building has become a major landmark of Menteng. As a result, the attractiveness of the Kunstkring building to this day is even more intense. Kunstring has also been transformed into the Immigration Office, Buddha Bar, Bistro Boulevard, and most recently the Tugu Kunstkring Paleis Restaurant.

Kunstkring as an art gallery

After the building was completed, Kunstkring, which was appointed as a well-known gallery in Batavia, was then inaugurated by the Governor of the Dutch East Indies Alexander Willem Frederik Idenburg (1909-1916) in 1914. As written by Sapto Pradityo in Tempo Magazine, Reviving Kunstkring Debris (2007) , Kunstkring received the title as the most respected gallery in the decade of 1920-1930s.

Therefore, famous Dutch East Indies artists competed to be able to exhibit and hold exhibitions at Kunstkring. In the future, whoever succeeds in exhibiting their work, they will undoubtedly be lifted in terms of prestige and economy because they can exhibit in the building located at the base of Van Heutz Boulevard - now Teuku Umar Street.

As a modern building, Kunstkring has a strategic location because it is flanked by three roads at once (Teuku Umar, Cut Meuthia, and Cut Nyak Dhien). In addition, Kunstkring not only sells the beauty of buildings and art exhibitions, the front yard of Kunstkring has its own charm because it is where the orchestra to accompany a performance is held. So, those who happened to pass the three roads were immediately turned their attention towards Kunstkring.

Kunstkring's heyday

In its heyday, in the afternoon or evening, Kunstkring was used as a gathering place for European painters who were members of the Nederlandsch-Indie Kunstkring. Some of them were the realist painter born in Switzerland Theo Meier (1908-1982) and the realist painter from the Netherlands, Dian Ernest Dezentje (1884-1972) who wrote a lot of views of Indonesian regions.

"What art events are held at Bataviasche Kunstkring? There are countless. Apart from various opera and symphonic music performances from Europe, the most memorable for the public is the exhibition of paintings by world masters such as Pablo Picasso, Kees van Dongen, Van Gogh, Soutin, Marc Chagall, Campigli and Jan Sluijter in April 1937, "said Agus Dermawan T in the book Hill of Attention (2004).

Not infrequently, the exhibitions held attracted the great attention of art lovers throughout the Dutch East Indies. Unfortunately, during the Japanese occupation (1942-1945) the building was poorly maintained. After Indonesia's independence, this building began to change functions. Some of them had served as offices of the Indonesian A'ala Islamic Council, the office of the Immigration Bureau, until they fell to the private sector in 1999.

Presumably, the efforts to restore the spirit of the former famous art building in its era have been intensified by the DKI Jakarta government, which purchased the building in 2003. However, the case of presenting the building is as difficult as displaying the temple, aka the execution should not be arbitrary.

Although the restoration results are not as good as the Bataviasche Kunstkring, now the building has been transformed into a Kunstkring Paleis restaurant. A culinary palace covered in art that presents the sensation of a popular Dutch Indies-style banquet, rijsttafel.

In fact, because of the uniqueness of the buildings and facilities on offer, Kunstkring has again captured the world's attention. The perch of Kunstkring Palais as one of the best restaurants in Jakarta according to the pocket book version of Lonely Planet (2017), which is also proof that Moojen's work still resonates.