Performance and Court in Indonesia

Performance and Court in Indonesia

In 2017 the Indo-Pacific Department received a magnificent donation of more than 20,000 Indonesian puppets and objects related to their performance. The collection was brought together by the Swiss scientist Walter Angst who had spent many years in western Indonesia studying primates. During that time he became deeply interested in the shadow puppet performances he observed there. He started collecting the puppets, but rather than simply bringing together a variety of them, he acquired the complete sets needed to perform the complex stories of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, drawn from Indian epics, as well as indigenous Indonesian tales and stories from Islamic and Chinese backgrounds. This performance art reached its high point in the courts of Central Java in the 19^th and early 20^th century. This display presents one of these royal sets and places it into the wider courtly context.

The department has now opened an additional display of their exceptional collection of Indonesian shadow puppet (wayang kulit) and related arts. The main focus is a set made in the court of the Sultan of Yogyakarta in the early 20^th century which was used to tell classic shadow puppet plays derived from Hindu literature and popular stories from western Indonesia. It is complemented by sumptuous textiles, a unique manuscript devoted to some of the characters of puppet performance, and the sculptures of the rice goddess Sri and her consort. The model of an Indonesian-Chinese puppet stage is also on view. The new installation is incorporated into the second floor Asian Art galleries.

The Indo-Pacific team is happy to work with you to plan course visits in the galleries and their object-study classrooms. Dr. Ruth Barnes, The Thomas Jaffe Curator of Indo-Pacific Art, will be delighted to lead gallery tours to groups of students or visitors with an interest in the Indo-Pacific region.

Scheduling a Visit

The first step is to submit a request for a course visit. Registration is required for all class visits – whether led by faculty or museum staff, whether in galleries or in object-study rooms, whether single or multiple visits. Please use our online form: College and University Faculty | Yale University Art Gallery.

If you are planning multiple visits to the Gallery, or find the online form inadequate for any reason, please send an email with your request or inquiry to yuag.acadaff@yale.edu.   

Classes are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. With advance planning, we can accommodate visits outside of regular Gallery hours if, for example, your class meets before 10am or on Mondays.