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Lot Essay
Founded in 1943, the ‘43 Group brought together a cohort of like-minded avant garde Sri Lankan artists committed to breaking from the conservative academic traditions that had dominated art education under British colonial rule. Pioneers included Harry Pieris, George Keyt and Lionel Wendt, and each member sought to synthesize European modern art with Sri Lankan cultural themes, forging distinct local visual idiom for themselves. The ‘43 Group predated the more widely recognized Progressive Artists’ Group in Bombay, and represented one of the earliest organized modernist movements in South Asia. Their annual exhibitions in Colombo, and later abroad, marked a decisive turning point in the emergence of modernism in Sri Lanka.
Richard Don Gabriel’s serene images of Sri Lankan life are important inclusions in the oeuvre of the ‘43 Group and won the artist great renown from a young age. Born in 1924, Gabriel took up drawing and painting as a child during his schooling at St. Mary’s Convent in Matara and at St. Peter’s College in Colombo. The artist’s older brother Edmund was a childhood friend of Ivan Peries, and in early 1941 he introduced Gabriel to the already-established artist. Ivan took the promising teenage painter under his wing and gave him weekly lessons on the history and philosophy of art, as Gabriel knew little of these things. Gabriel’s instruction was then passed on to Harry Pieris, who trained in Europe and had experience teaching at Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan. Gabriel remained a lifelong student of Harry Pieris, and participated in his first exhibition in 1943, the Ceylon War Effort Pictures, where he won four prizes. He was invited to join the ‘43 Group soon after, and thirteen of his works were features in their inaugural exhibition in Colombo, several of them landscapes similar to the present lot.
Gabriel continued to exhibit with the pioneering group of Sri Lankan artists over the next decade, and then relocated to London in 1952 after receiving a grant from the British Council to study at the Chelsea Art School. His reputation only grew during his years in Europe, and after the ‘43 Group’s 1953 exhibition in Paris, the city purchased his painting, Fighting Bulls for the permanent collection of the Musee Petit Palais. Gabriel was further lauded by the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence, which conferred him with honorary membership in 1964.
The present lot is a remarkably early composition by Gabriel, executed when he was only eighteen, which highlights his innate talent and taste for depicting native subject matter, with a focus on the daily lives and environs of his countrymen. The artist’s use of jute as a surface and his looser brushwork hint at the waning influence of academism in Sri Lanka at the time, and the rise of modernism, while asserting a decisively indigenous aesthetic. His chosen palette, rich with earthy shades of red and green, is consistent with Gabriel’s early oeuvre, and reminiscent of the Sri Lankan folk art that he often drew inspiration from as he synthesized his own cultural heritage with modern artistic movements.
Richard Don Gabriel’s serene images of Sri Lankan life are important inclusions in the oeuvre of the ‘43 Group and won the artist great renown from a young age. Born in 1924, Gabriel took up drawing and painting as a child during his schooling at St. Mary’s Convent in Matara and at St. Peter’s College in Colombo. The artist’s older brother Edmund was a childhood friend of Ivan Peries, and in early 1941 he introduced Gabriel to the already-established artist. Ivan took the promising teenage painter under his wing and gave him weekly lessons on the history and philosophy of art, as Gabriel knew little of these things. Gabriel’s instruction was then passed on to Harry Pieris, who trained in Europe and had experience teaching at Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan. Gabriel remained a lifelong student of Harry Pieris, and participated in his first exhibition in 1943, the Ceylon War Effort Pictures, where he won four prizes. He was invited to join the ‘43 Group soon after, and thirteen of his works were features in their inaugural exhibition in Colombo, several of them landscapes similar to the present lot.
Gabriel continued to exhibit with the pioneering group of Sri Lankan artists over the next decade, and then relocated to London in 1952 after receiving a grant from the British Council to study at the Chelsea Art School. His reputation only grew during his years in Europe, and after the ‘43 Group’s 1953 exhibition in Paris, the city purchased his painting, Fighting Bulls for the permanent collection of the Musee Petit Palais. Gabriel was further lauded by the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence, which conferred him with honorary membership in 1964.
The present lot is a remarkably early composition by Gabriel, executed when he was only eighteen, which highlights his innate talent and taste for depicting native subject matter, with a focus on the daily lives and environs of his countrymen. The artist’s use of jute as a surface and his looser brushwork hint at the waning influence of academism in Sri Lanka at the time, and the rise of modernism, while asserting a decisively indigenous aesthetic. His chosen palette, rich with earthy shades of red and green, is consistent with Gabriel’s early oeuvre, and reminiscent of the Sri Lankan folk art that he often drew inspiration from as he synthesized his own cultural heritage with modern artistic movements.