Rest in Peace, Edhie Sunarso an Independent War Veteran, a teacher, an artist, a great sculptor this Republic ever had....
Edhi Sunarso, Sculptor of ‘Selamat Datang’ and ‘Dirgantara’ Landmarks, Dies at 83
[The story was updated at 05.40 p.m. to correct the details of Edhi's family]
Jakarta. Edhi Sunarso, the sculptor behind many iconic Jakarta landmarks, died in Yogyakarta on Monday night from heart failure following a prostate operation, a family spokesman said in a message on Tuesday.
Edhi was 83.
Born Sunarso in Salatiga, Central Java, on July 2, 1932, he took part in the armed struggle for independence and later adopted the name Edhi, after a comrade-in-arms who died during battle.
During a mission in Bandung in 1942, Edhi was captured by the Dutch colonial forces and jailed in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) prison in Kebonwaru, Bandung. It was here where Edhi first started sketching and sculpting.
After his release in 1949, Edhi pursued formal training at Indonesian College of Fine Arts (ASRI), now the Yogyakarta Institue of Arts (ISI), and later won a Unesco scholarship to study at Visva Bharati Robindrannat Tagore University in India.
His breakthrough came in 1956, when he won second prize for his stone sculpture titled "The Unknown Political Prisoner" at an international competition in Britain.
In 1958, then-President Sukarno commissioned Edhi and his team to build a monument to welcome athletes to Jakarta for the 1962 Asian Games. He completed the now-landmark Selamat Datang (Welcome) statue in 1959, earning him Sukarno's trust to build other monuments around the capital.
These included the Irian Jaya Liberation statue in Lapangan Banteng, Central Jakarta, in 1964, and the Dirgantara statue in Pancoran, South Jakarta, in 1970. Sukarno was reported to have his personal car to fund the Dirgantara statue, but died before its completion.
In his later years, Edhi taught sculpting at IKIP Yogyakarta and ISI, while working on government-commissioned dioramas as well as hundreds of sculptures for private collectors.
Edhi is to be buried at 1 p.m. today at the Girisapto Imogiri Artist Cemetery in Bantul, Yogyakarta, beside the grave of his wife. He is survived by two daughters, two sons and several grandchildren.
Edhi Sunarso, Sculptor of ‘Selamat Datang’ and ‘Dirgantara’ Landmarks, Dies at 83 | Jakarta Globe