Lot 84: David Paynter (1900-1975)

A Study, Ceylon signed and dated 'DAVID/PAYNTER/1937' (lower left), signed again and inscribed 'DAVID PAYNTER./(ROOM 40. 34, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C./"A STUDY, CEYLON"' (on a label attached to the frame) oil on canvas 44 1/8 x 36 in. (112 x 91.5 cm.) PROVENANCE Sir Alexander Park Lyle, Bt. EXHIBITION London, Royal Academy, 1929, no. 107. NOTES Paynter was the son of a British missionary and a Sinhalese mother. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools after the First World War and then in Italy in 1922. He lived in Sri Lanka from 1925 and taught at Trinity College but he often sent paintings back to London as he had gained a reputation and was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy, the New English Art Club and the Cooling Galleries. In 1965 he taught at the College of Art, Colombo, Sri Lanka, but he spent the last years of his life training youths for a career in collective farming. His highly coloured landscape L'AprŠs Midi is in the collection of Brighton Art Gallery and Musuem.