Background
He was born on July 2, 1932, in Salatiga, Central Java, Dutch East Indies. Like many Indonesians, he was born with just one name, Sunarso.
He was born on July 2, 1932, in Salatiga, Central Java, Dutch East Indies. Like many Indonesians, he was born with just one name, Sunarso.
He taught sculpture at Yogyakarta State University (formerly Institut Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan Yogyakarta) and the Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta. He took the name Edhi Sunarso, after a fellow fighter who was killed during the Indonesian National Revolution for independence from the Netherlands. In 1942, Sunarso was captured by Dutch forces during a pro-independence mission in Bandung.
He was imprisoned in Kebonwaru, Bandung, by the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army until 1949.
Sunarso initially began sculpting and practicing art while detained in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army"s prison. Upon his release in 1949 (and the independence of Indonesia), Sunarso enrolled in the Indonesian College of Fine Arts (ASRI), now known as the Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta (Inter-Services Intelligence).
During the 1950s, Sukarno had ordered the destruction of statues and monuments which had been erected by Dutch authorities during the colonial era. Sukarno commissioned Sunarso and his colleagues in 1958 to create a sculpture which would greet athletes arriving for the 1962 Asian Games four years later.
By 1959, Sunarso had completed the Selamat Datang Monument, which means "Welcome" in Bahasa Indonesian, which is now considered an important Jakarta landmark.
Sukarno commissioned Sunarso to complete several other monuments located throughout Jakarta. In 1964, he installed the Irian Jaya Liberation at Lapangan Banteng to mark the Indonesian takeover of West Papua (Netherlands New Guinea). The Dirgantara statue, located in Pancoran, South Jakarta, was built in 1966.
First commissioned by Sukarno before he was overthrown in 1967, the former President reportedly considered selling his own car to fund the construction of Dirgantara, which "symbolizes courage, gallantry and dedication in aviation." Dirgantara underwent its first cleaning and restoration in 2014.
Sunarso also crafted sculptures for individual collectors, as well as dioramas commissioned by the Government of Indonesia. Edhi Sunarso died from heart failure following prostate surgery in Yogyakarta on January 4, 2016, at the age of 83.