S Mahdar – Perjuangan di Malaya (Battle in Malaya)

• 1951, Pencil on Paper

Initial Response

There are many people queuing up and marching towards the crowd at the center of the drawing. The bones and skulls at the side also caught my attention.

Analysis

Lines are used to outline moving objects, show their movements (e.g. flowing flags) and draw their details (e.g. expressions of the people). Implied lines are also formed by the the queues of the marching soldiers.

Various shading techniques help to add texture and emotions to the drawing. For instance, hatching (thin parallel lines) is applied to the people’s faces, giving a smooth skin texture and at the same time expressing their fear, sadness and anger through a darker tone.

Atmospheric perspective is applied here where a lighter shade of black is used to show distance and atmospheric haze (slight blurry effect) for further objects. Composition in this drawing involves overlapping the elements and varying them in size. For instance, the people who are nearer are drawn bigger. There is a light source at the top of the drawing, where the area appears to be a little blurry and hazy. It is due to the exposure to light and atmospheric haze. The sketch is achromatic as only black and white is used.

The painting has a realistic scale and uses simple shapes such as small circles to represent the heads of the people in the crowd. However, certain elements are drawn in a rather abstract manner. For instance, lines of the people walking down to the crowd are drawn like chains.

In an overview, the techniques used are sketching and shading. These help to achieve the above-mentioned effects and results, adding value and texture and depth to the overall drawing.

About the Art Piece

Little information could be found about the artist and art piece. As the sketch is drawn in 1951, in my opinion, this piece is created to record the “Malayan Emergency” war which occurred in 1948 to 1960 since the timeline matches. It shows the sorrow and pain the Malayans had went through.