Born in Cirebon, West Java, Affandi was the founder of the “Community Artist” ( 1946 ) and the “People’s Artists” ( 1947 ) organizations. In the early 1950s, he traveled to India an a grant from the Indian Government and held solo exhibitions in several Indian cities, before continuing to England, Holland, Belgium, France and Italy where he also held solo exhibitions. Returning in 1955 to Indonesia, he taught painting and sculpture at the Indonesia Academy of Fine Arts in Yogyakarta. He received an Indonesian art award from the Ministry of Education and Culture (1969), the Dag Hammarskjoed Prize from Italy ( 1977 ) and an Indonesia government gold metal ( 1978 ). He traveled to Honolulu in 1967 as part of the first East-West Center artist-in-residence program and had two paintings displayed in the Center’s 1988 “Art of Bali” exhibition. Internationally, Affandi is the best known Indonesia artist.