Batik painting is an ancient art form that involves applying wax and dye to cloth (usually cotton) in a systematic manner to create paintings. The majority of ancient Batik paintings depicted animal or natural scenes, but they could depict anything. Originally seen primarily in Indian and Asian areas, this art form is now found all over the world, and it is taught in art colleges in many countries. Clothing, furniture covers, and wall hangings can all be decorated with batik paintings.
Batik paintings date back to up to 2,100 years in India and are a traditional Indonesian art form that has been passed down through the generations. It’s been discovered in Egyptian tombs as well. Batik paintings were very popular in Germany and other European countries in the early 1900s. The Indonesian word ambatik, which means “cloth with dots,” is most likely the source of the word “batik.”
Although water-based paints are used in modern Batik painting, the ancient Batik method used vegetable dyes, wax, and cotton or silk cloth. A charcoal sketch was made on the cloth after it had been washed and any starch had been removed. A special wax containing beeswax and resin was used to fill in any areas of the sketch that would not be dyed once it was completed. This was done with a pen-like instrument called a tjanting in India and a canting in Indonesia. The cloth was then dipped in the desired color of dye and gently washed after the wax application was complete.
This process would have to be repeated for each color the artist wanted to use in the painting. Light colors always came first in ancient art, and dark colors came last. Any remaining wax was removed after the painting was finished, and the colors were set dipping it into a diluted sulphuric acid solution.
In the 1960s, batik painting was introduced to Africa. Artists like Henry Lutalo Lumu, who studied the ancient form, developed a new process around 1976. He started with dark colors instead of light, and instead of dipping the entire cloth in dye, he applied the color with paintbrushes. The colors were sealed in place with wax. To add background depth, a technique known as “fragmentation” was developed.
This new method gave artists far more control over the coloring, texture, and shading of their work, giving it a depth that had never been seen before. The Modern Batik painting method is the name given to this African technique. Traditional Batik paintings exist, but many of them depict modern, realistic-looking subjects or are abstract.