Hendra Gunawan (painter)

Raden Hendra Gunawan Prawiradilaga (11 June 1918 – 17 July 1983), better known as Hendra Gunawan, was an Indonesian painter and sculptor. Born to a family of Sundanese gentry in Bandung, he ran away from home to become an artist. After time as a healer and freelance painter, he met Affandi and began to focus on painting. Learning from contemporaries, including Affandi, Wahdi Sumanta, and S. Sudjojono, Hendra honed his art under the Japanese occupation and gained prominence. During the Indonesian National Revolution, he worked with the Pelukis Front (lit. 'Painters of the Front') to capture the realities of the battlefield, which led President Sukarno to sponsor his first solo exhibition in 1946. After a brief membership in the Young Artists of Indonesia, Hendra co-established the Pelukis Rakjat ('Painters of the People') artist collective.

Based in Yogyakarta, Hendra became one of Indonesia's most prominent painters, helped establish the Indonesian Academy of the Arts (now the Indonesia Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta), and taught younger artists to "crystalize their own characters [and] have confidence in their own peculiarities." In 1955, the Communist Party of Indonesia recommended Hendra, a member of the Institute for People's Culture (LEKRA) council, for a non-party position in the Constitutional Assembly of Indonesia. After his appointment, Hendra returned to Bandung, where he remained even after the assembly was dissolved. Following the failed 30 September Movement, which was blamed on the Communist Party, suspected communists were arrested. Due to his affiliation with LEKRA, Hendra was arrested in December 1965, after which he was held for almost thirteen years without trial at the Kebon Waru Prison. Upon his release in 1978, he faced strong stigma and failing health. He moved to Bali, where he died in 1983.

Hendra is considered one of the founders of modern Indonesian art, alongside Affandi and Sudjojono. His style varied over time, initially stressing realism but becoming increasingly impressionist, with bright, unnatural colours, and an emphasis on curves noted in later works. Most of his paintings depict human figures, with women particularly prominent after the 1960s. Some have poems inscribed by the artist. On the art market, works by Hendra sell for a high price, such that forgeries have become common.