Paper Title
The Association of Balinese Artists Pita Maha (Bali, Indonesia) in the 1930-s :Between East and West

Abstract
The current article considers the aspects of development of the Balinese pictorial art under the influence of the educational and creative activity of Walter Spies as an example of synthesis of a traditional pictorial art canon and elements of western world perception. The originality of Balinese fine art shaped under the influence of Indo-Buddhist conglomerate of cultures, which were reassessed in the boundaries of a specific complex of local beliefs «bali aga».By the beginning of the 20th century pictorial canon of Bali was homogeneous, its iconography remained stable from 16th century. The starting point of the contemporary development of the Balinese art is traditionally associated with the arrival of Walter Spies to the island who in January of 1936 became the founder of the association of local artists Pita Maha («The Great light»), created to join efforts in order to improve painting techniques. Spies helped their students to go beyond the boundaries of the traditional Balinese mythological frameworks and address the scenes from everyday life.The activity of the Pita Maha association engulfed various regions of Bali which resulted in the evolvement of new traits of the traditional Balinese pictorial art under the influence of western artists. The end result of Pita Maha association in Bali in 1930-s is a new type of image , new method of visual communication, which turned out to be the first step on the way to the new schools of art.These days preserving the continuity of art development and its historic links, modern artists of pictorial school in Bali on the basis of pictorial peculiarities shaped in the1930-s, find new original combinations of ancient and other artistic forms. Index terms - Walter Spies -Traditional Balinese fine art – Artistic styles of Bali– Intercultural processes