Paintings on the other hand are looked аith author‟s aЯailable tools in understanding and appreciating one piece of art
– observing composition, perspective, usage of colours, lines, other figures, and so on. Visual semiotics is used to de-code
symbols in it. In the first place the task is to find and interpret symbols of national hero Pangeran Diponegoro as main object of research, but with him also others. One sign is
rarely understood alone, sign enters into a relationship with other signs to build net or systems of signs. Together they make meaning. Meaning and value of these paintings are
main objectives of this research
E. Hypothesis
Pangeran Diponegoro is a powerful motif in Indonesian paintings and culture in general. His representation is following social and historical changes that occured around
his native Java. Nevertheless, narrative around him is ever-actual and it will be re-shaped and re-told for years to come.
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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH
A. Location and Time of Research
Main place for this research is South-Central Java within two cities: the first one is
Surakarta, where studies were conducted and the second one is Yogyakarta where the main research was done. The city of Yogyakarta is the main research place for the listed reasons:
Yogyakarta is the birth place of Pangeran Diponegoro and he is listed as the
national hero from this city-province.
Yogyakarta has unique place in Indonesian history. It was the centre of nationalistic ideas and even for the short time the capital of Indonesia. There is still
an active sultan court which also had political power as sultan is a governor of Special Region of Yogyakarta. Pangeran Diponegoro also fought against increasing
influence of the Dutch and the Western culture. Still today Yogyakarta is a symbol of a symbiosis with Western and other influences and local character.
Painting as an art form in Java developed itself fully in Yogyakarta. While
Bandung in West Java was also considered an important place for developing art, it always had the
Western „glasses‟ аhile Yogвakarta аas more national oriented. This mixture of long history, the ideas of nationalism, yet with strong local identity,
together with the development of painting makes Yogyakarta the perfect place for this research. Neighbouring cities and sights were also important for this research. Magelang is
a city where Pangeran Diponegoro was captured. The court of Dutch residence is setting for the main paintings that are going to be analyzed in this research. It was also used as the
setting for the theatrical reading in November 2013 about the arrestsubmission Pangeran Diponegoro directed bв Landung Simatupang „Sang Pangeran‟ di Keresidenan – Pentas
Pembacaan Dramatik that author witnessed. Magelang is also one of the most important centres for understanding Indonesian art as it is a place where the biggest art collections of
Indonesian art are. Last, but not least, the city of Surakarta and its surrounding also provide amount of inspiration and motivation for conducting this research. It is the place where
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research аas аritten, guided bв mentors and other professors аho shaped author‟s knowledge about cultural studies and this topic in general.
Idea for this research came from paper in „Art Studies‟ subject in Februarв 2013. The main point of that paper was conflict of two paintings in the 19th century which depicts
Pangeran Diponegoro. It grows to the idea of how Pangeran Diponegoro is depicted within Indonesian framework
– fifty years ago and the question- is he still an actual motif? The timeframe for this research is set from September 2013 until May 2014.
B. Locus of Research
