James (Jimmy) Pandy. Indonesian. Died c. 1975.
Abstract Composition. Oil on paper. 7 x 10 1/2 (image and sheet). Incised 'Pandy Bali' lower right. Accompanied by a the original invoice from Art Gallery Pandy. An historically fascinating work by an important figure in the Indonesian art world. $1,000.
James (Jimmy) Pandy was an Indonesian painter, art dealer, connoisseur and promoter of the Balinese arts and cuisine. Save for a few scattered villas owned by lords and heiresses, during the thirties Sanur beach was left in seclusion. Pandy’s Art Gallery was then an aquarium and coffee shop. He became the most noted antique dealer in Bali after World War II, and ran an art gallery and a beachside museum. He had an elegant house with extensive gardens and a guest pavillion with gilded dragons, lions and garuda birds.
In 1956, Pandy met the Dutch painter, Ari Smit, at an exhibition of Balinese art in Jakarta and Pandy had insisted: "You must come to Bali. I've got a place for you to stay." So when Smit arrived in Sanur, there was a room waiting for him in a little house on stilts at the beach. Pandy and Smit became good friends, and for 16 years Pandy sold the works of Arie Smit through his gallery. It was a successful partnership. Pandy had many friends in high places and Sukarno himself would bring his state guests to the small gallery.
Swiss artist, Theo Meier usually he visited Bali during the dry season and loved to stay with Jimmy Pandy.
In 1965, Pandy's original stablishment on a nearby promontory was burned out; so he re-created bungalows in the old Balinese garden in Segara, by Sanur Beach.
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