Lot 338: Ivan Peries (1921 - 1988)

Suda Eliya
Signed and dated lower right: Ivan Peries 1963; Titled on reverse
Mixed media on board
21 3/4 x 17 3/4 in. (55 x 45 cm.)

Oxford, Bear Lane Gallery, June 1964

PROPERTY FROM AN ENGLISH COLLECTION

Sri Lankan artist, Ivan Peries, was a founder member of the 43 Group along with George Keyt, George Claessen, Richard Gabriel, Aubrey Collette, and Manjusri Thero. Their 1943 manifesto sought to marry Western Modernism with indigenous contexts--ideals later adopted by India's Progressive Artist Group in 1947. Peries' evocations of the coastal fishing villages and landscapes from his native country reached a high point of development between the mid-1950s and 1960s. His paintings are remarkable for their structural precision yet they still retain an overall luminous quality.