Nieuwenkamp Museum Foundation

2nd journey to the Indies (Java, Bali, Lombok)

The drawings that Nieuwenkamp sent to the Netherlands which were made during his first journey in 1898 were published in the journals he was working for. G.P. Rouffaer, who had been an ethnographer of the highest order, noticed his drawings. Rouffaer, Managing Director of the Ethnographic Museum in Haarlem (later to become the Dutch Tropical Institute), asked Nieuwenkamp to purchase some objects for him, including beautiful objects and native art made by local artists and craftsmen. This permitted Nieuwenkamp to finance part of his second journey. Rouffaer, who had also travelled to the Indies, recommended that Nieuwenkamp visit Bali in particular.
In mid-December 1903 Nieuwenkamp departed, first going to Egypt for a short stay and then travelling on to Singapore, Batavia, Bali and Lombok. In early June 1904, he returned to the Netherlands.

Nieuwenkamp was hugely impressed by Bali
Bali made a strong impression on Nieuwenkamp. He had wandered mainly around the northern part of the island joining the governor on his journey back to Lombok. This is probably where he caught malaria and the reason for him cutting short his journey. He took a lot of drawings and artefacts back to the Netherlands and, deciding that they needed some sort of commentary, he wrote a book about them. Nieuwenkamp had also purchased a lot of objects for himself; objects that would soon form the beginning of his Indian collection, a collection that was to become the largest privately owned Dutch collection of ethnographic works.