I Gusti Made Deblog

I Gusti Made Deblog was born in Denpasar in 1906. At the age of 25, he began studying portrait drawing under the guidance of renowned Taiwanese photographer Yap Sin Tin. However, he later shifted his focus to painting. His emergence as an artist had a significant impact on the development of modern Balinese art. Coming from Denpasar, Deblog introduced a fresh approach—bringing explorations of Chinese ink painting closely tied to Balinese visual traditions, but with a distinctly different method.

The influence of his mentor can be seen in Deblog’s unique creative style: dynamic anatomy and gesture, unconventional perspective, and his adaptation of traditional Chinese ink techniques into a distinctly Balinese aesthetic. His artistic vision became especially apparent in his wayang (shadow puppet) themed paintings, which he rendered with a realistic-naturalistic approach. The strong outlines typical of traditional Balinese painting were transformed into illusory lines, achieved through nuanced tonal contrasts of light and dark.

The influence of Chinese painting introduced by Yap Sin Tin set Deblog apart from Ubud-based painters, who were more heavily influenced by the anatomical emphasis brought by Dutch painter Rudolf Bonnet. This realist experience gave Deblog a deep understanding that shaped his later works.
In the 1920s, the establishment of the Bali Hotel and the Bali Museum positioned Badung (Denpasar) as Bali’s cultural hub—long before Gianyar and Ubud rose to prominence through tourism. This environment helped bring Deblog into the public eye. His name gained further recognition in 1940 when he was invited to join Pita Maha, an art collective founded in 1936 by foreign artists Rudolf Bonnet and Walter Spies.

In 1975, approaching the age of 70, Deblog joined Citra, the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Painters Association (Himpunan Pelukis Indonesia), and actively participated in its exhibitions. His innovative contributions to painting earned him the Dharma Kusuma Art Award from the Provincial Government of Bali and a National Art Award Certificate from the Government of the Republic of Indonesia in 1981.
I Gusti Made Deblog passed away in 1986.