The acclaimed Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias and his wife Rose were among the first westerners to immortalize Bali in art. The two first traveled to Bali in 1930 and quickly became fascinated by Balinese life, particularly by rituals, offerings, and festivals. Covarrubias's 1937 book Island of Bali is a remarkable source of information about the art, ritual life, and customs of parts of Bali he had observed during the years he lived there.
In his painting Tanah Bali, which means “Land of Bali”, Covarrubias defines the striking geographical features of the island. A trail of volcanoes divides the land, with the two largest, Gunung Batur and Gunung Agung, dominating the east. Smoke rises from the still-active crater of Batur, while the sacred lake Danau Batur fills the volcano's huge collapsed crater, or caldera. Terraced rice fields descend the fertile slopes to the southern shores. The most sacred temple, Pura Besakih, is on the southern slope of Gunung Agung, the most sacred mountain in Bali. Other famous temples dot the island. You can see a replica of the famed work at Bvlgari Resort Bali.
In an immense park, mixing land and sea in the northwest zone of Bali, there is a remarkably varied number of wild animals and birdlife among the mangroves, savannah and rainforest.
Stephan Kotas is a Czechoslovakian photographer who chose Bali as a home where he could do what he loves - help the past live again in vintage portraits using the old-fashioned photographic developing technique of "tintype".