Shadow Puppets (Art no.12) by sandra46

Photography • Atmosphere/Mood • posted on Jul 31, 2010

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Description

These are some shadow puppets from Indonesia in the Overseas Museum in Bremen, Germany. They are artistic treasures,manufactured by village puppet makers, and I tried to enhance the mood they create with some postwork. Wayang Kulit (Indonesian for shadow theatre) is a unique form of theatre employing light and shadow. The puppets are crafted from buffalo hide and mounted on bamboo sticks. When held up behind a piece of white cloth, with an electric bulb or an oil lamp as the light source, shadows are cast on the screen.Plays are invariably based on romantic tales, especially adaptations of the classic Indian epics, The Mahabarata and The Ramayana. Some are also based on local happenings or other local secular stories.When Islam began spreading in Indonesia, the display of God or gods in human form was prohibited, and thus this style of painting and shadow play was suppressed. As an alternative, the religious leaders permitted only the shadow instead of the figure itself, giving birth of the modern wayang kulit. Thank you for your kind comments.

Comments (42)

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magnus073

11:11AM | Sat, 31 July 2010

They really are amazing Sandra, and are especially interesting for me as I have a small collection of Indonesian art and handcrafts.

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redchilicat

11:27AM | Sat, 31 July 2010

Really nice composition! Excellent postwork!

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anmes

11:29AM | Sat, 31 July 2010

Really arresting image..love it!

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durleybeachbum

11:53AM | Sat, 31 July 2010

These were the first sort we studied and attempted to make when I was an art student. Most interesting pic!

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Faemike55

11:54AM | Sat, 31 July 2010

Fantastic image and interesting information about the artform

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brycek

11:59AM | Sat, 31 July 2010

Super capture and information!!

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flora-crassella

12:18PM | Sat, 31 July 2010

great image!!!!!

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jayfar

12:23PM | Sat, 31 July 2010

This is fantastic and looks just like the wife when she's mad with me!!! Lol.

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Hendesse

12:32PM | Sat, 31 July 2010

Superb shot, fantastic colors.

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claude19

12:39PM | Sat, 31 July 2010

I love this theater of Chinese shadows or Indonesian. Very nice presentation and literary arts! SANDRA thank you!

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carlx

2:01PM | Sat, 31 July 2010

Cool and wild!!!

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Madbat

2:08PM | Sat, 31 July 2010

Those fellows look a tad grumpy, kinda like me before my first cuppa!

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flaviok

3:52PM | Sat, 31 July 2010

fascinante, captura e texto magnificos minha amiga, aplausos (5)

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Mousson

4:33PM | Sat, 31 July 2010

Fantastic image !!!

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bazza

7:05PM | Sat, 31 July 2010

Lovely Sandra and informative as always, well done!!

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Chipka

7:25PM | Sat, 31 July 2010

This is absolutely fantastic! I love shadow puppets and shadow puppetry in general. The fantastic, mythical figures are superbly captured here and I love your postwork! As always, this is an outstanding piece of artistic work with wonderful information enhancing it. Marvelous!

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MOSKETON

8:11PM | Sat, 31 July 2010

FANTASTICA..

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danapommet

9:05PM | Sat, 31 July 2010

Magical looking puppets and wonderful colors. Dana

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KatesFriend

10:44PM | Sat, 31 July 2010

Marvelous photograph Sandra. I love the detailed story that you provided with it. It is always intriguing to learn of the amazingly various ways different peoples can and will imagine their own histories and myths.

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mariogiannecchini

1:47AM | Sun, 01 August 2010

Uno spettacolo di grande fascino , con una storia importante alle spalle !Ottimo lavoro e grazie per mettere in luce le varie sfaccettature di questa arte . Stamani ho messo la farfalla con le ali aperte , credo che rimarrai meravigliata vedendo di quale farfalla si tratta ( difficile vedendo l'esterno immginare cosa c'e' dietro l'apparenza. Ciao , buona domenica.

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renecyberdoc

2:30AM | Sun, 01 August 2010

without reading it i thought i see a psychedelic cover form an album iron butterfly or tangerine dream or somthing.. maybe i should quit smoking pot in the morning lol. now of course (after another joint lol)i see it different. a fine piece of information goes along. sorry my jokes but i just feel very well laugh. greetings to you and flavia from hot stinky sweaty spain.

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wysiwig

3:54AM | Sun, 01 August 2010

You have described them very well leaving me with almost nothing to say (very rare ;->). I have some of these and it is ironic how beautifully decorated they are but all the audience sees are their shadows. Very nice image and wonderful post work.

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