The Small Pregnant Woman and the Point of Origin

Pregnant Woman, mid-20th century, 13 cm, private collection

This small figure bears no inscription, but the fairly strong similarities it shows with another piece in my collection signed by I Wayan Gejir could justify an attribution to that carver. Like the sleeper discussed here, it is a variation on the motif of the sleeping figure created by Ida Bagus Njana in 1956. Beyond the plump appearance characteristic of this style of full, rounded forms, one finds the attitude of Njana’s model: a seated position, hands resting on the belly, and the head tilted onto the shoulder.

Entirely composed of rounded shapes, the sculpture represents a pregnant woman. Far from any form of realism, the carver explores an aesthetic filled with humor and delicacy. To confer maximum softness to the forms, he favors fluid transitions between convex and concave surfaces that allow the light to glide across them. He pays particular attention to certain details that are not immediately apparent at first glance: the way the surface of the left breast hollows slightly under the pressure of the thumb, suggesting the suppleness of flesh; or the very slight swelling on which the incision of the navel is inscribed—one of only two that are clearly defined and deeply cut, the other being placed higher up, at the center of the subeng (the circular ornament worn in the ear).

But another aspect also contributes to the interest of this piece. I am referring to the interplay between the forms and the lines drawn by the growth rings on the surface of the wood. By observing these lines closely, one sees that they follow the curve of the shoulders and the volume of the breasts. Above all, however, one notices that, with great pertinence, the sculptor has placed the short incision representing the navel at the center of the concentric circles formed by the rings. Thus this point—which symbolically refers to the origin of the mother’s life as well as that of her unborn child, and beyond that to the origin of human life in general—coincides with the point of origin of the growth of the tree whose wood was used to carve the figure.

In the company of The Sleeper by I Made Satriawan

From roughing out to finishing, a skilled wood carver knows how the progression of carving can reveal certain qualities inherent in the block he is working. A restorer to whom I occasionally entrust some of my pieces once told me that one of the qualities he found most remarkable in the work of Balinese carvers was precisely this ability to draw out the undulations traced by the growth rings. But while it is indeed fairly common for Balinese sculptures to testify to such a dialogue with the intimate properties of the wood, those that exploit it so subtly in order to enrich the symbolic scope of the work remain rare.