Since first half of 20th century, in the art world began to appear landscape painters in Dutch Eeast Indies. Sanento Yuliman critics in ‘Indonesia New Art: An Introduction’ says that the first phase in the emergence of Indonesian modern art occurred when European painters did the order of colonial government to paint the beauty of nature and city in Nusantara. This first modern art phase later known as the ‘Mooi Indie’. Between 1920-1940’s a young painter named S. Sudjojono famously opposed the aesthetic of Mooi Indie. For him any work of only ‘beautiful painting landscapes’ cannot represent the real conditions of Indonesian society under colonialism. Together with his colleagues he founded the Union of Indonesian Drawing Experts or Persagi (Persatuan Ahli-ahli Gambar Indonesia) in 1938, an art group that raised the people's struggle toward independence through the work of expressive-social realism painting.
The emergence of Persagi became a milestone for modern art in Indonesia whom also intertwined with Indonesian national movement and revolution. Historic events such as nationalistic theme are needed to be reappointed, particularly for younger generations of Indonesia, whom currently live in globalization where they were vulnerable to absorb only popular art and culture. The topic also required an effective media for fine arts and history education of Indonesia. Expectation from this design project is to understand one of Indonesian historical fragment in art, and also to evoke youth’s senses of patriotism and nationalism.
