ICONOGRAPHICAL INTERPRETATION OF W.K. DE BRUIN'S ILLUSTRATIONS IN ROESDI DJEUNG MISNEM

• Main Author: SETIAWAN (NIM: 27006004), WAWAN
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/11579
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

This research examines several drawings by the Dutch illustrator W.K. de Bruin (1871-1945) which appeared in a four book series entitled Roesdi djeung Misnem (Roesdi and Misnem). The books were written in Sundanese by the Dutch author A.C. Deenik in collaboration with his Sundanese counterpart R. Djajadiredja (1882-1942) for pre-war elementary school children of West Java.<p>In view of these drawings through visual culture approach, this research sheds light on iconographic aspect of visual image. Following the three strata of interpretation of visual works formulated by art historian Erwin Panofsky (1862-1968), it focuses on the motifs and meanings of these drawings in an iconological analysis. In doing so, it relates the analysis to a broader observation on visualization of Sundanese people, nature and culture by a European in colonial era.<p>From among 150 drawings printed in the whole book, 14 samples have been taken. They were selected by purposive sampling associated with iconographic aspect of visual image. In examining them, this research observes the image of fictional characters and their appearances, everyday life, physical and social milieu, as well as their customs. These drawings are also analyzed due to the implied meanings. They are also compared to other drawings by the same illustrator and other illustrators.<p> This research finds out that De Bruin's attempt to visualize Sundanese people in their cultural setting relates more or less closely to a European colonial view of native people in the pre-war era. To a certain extent, his drawings affirm the debasing view of native people. In any case, De Bruin's drawings cannot be separated from the policy of colonial government of Dutch East Indies in the field of education for indigenous people, which aims to transform them into a culture that sustain the stability of colonial order itself. <br />