Sri Lankan art and Ceylon antiquaria
Research on Sri Lankan modern and pre-modern painting, and on the antiquarian books, maps and magazines of Ceylon. Every piece here is signed and dated, so it can be cited and so a reader can see who wrote it and when.
For Collectors
Before photography, an image of Ceylon reached the world only as a print. The three families of printmaking behind those images, how to tell them apart on the sheet in front of you, and why two apparently identical impressions of the same view are not worth the same.
Artists
Charles Freegrove Winzer represented Poland at the Venice Biennale at twenty-one and counted Matisse a friend. In Ceylon he turned the younger painters away from the Royal Academy manner and towards a modern art rooted in the island. The heritage he taught them to value was the same heritage he helped remove.
Artists
Andrew Nicholl reached Ceylon in 1846 as the first teacher of landscape and scientific drawing at the Colombo Academy. A five week tour of the interior with Emerson Tennent gave him his sketches, and the rebellion of the following year came close to costing him his life.
One dossier for each artist, carrying the life dates, the account of the work, and every piece here that discusses them.