Harry Pieris:

Life dedicated to art

by Tissa HEWAVITARANE

Never was a period in the life of a nation better suited to the brush of an artist than the 19 th century in Sri Lanka. To be sure, Harry Pieris had been a master artist. He was born on August 10, 1904 as the son of an extremely wealthy land-owner. He shared the aspirations of his contemporary socialist friends.

Pieris was an Oxford graduate with degrees in Pali and Sanskrit. He was the translator of Kalidasa's epic poem, the 'Seasons'. At the age of 13 he was trained in the art of painting for six years under Gate Mudaliyar A.C.G.S. Amarasekera a pioneer art teacher and a painter of international repute. After teaching him for six years, Mudaliyar Amarasekera asked Harry's mother to send him abroad.

Coming from a affluent family background the art was certainly not considered a suitable profession. Of course, Harry wanted to paint portraits of people, unheared of in his rather conservative family. Painters in those days were looked down upon as inferior creatures. There began in his soul a violent struggle between beauty and duty, between the ideas of the old world and the ideals of the new. But after some time Harry was able to pack his bags to proceed to England. While in London he was admitted to the Royal College of Arts by Sir William Rothenstein who was its principal. Sir Rothenstein took a keen interest in Harry since he was the first Sri Lankan to be admitted. After a period of three years he obtained the Diploma in Art from the Royal College of Art in 1927. Shortly afterwards he went to Paris where he took private lessons from a Russian Jew called Robert Folk who was an excellent teacher. He explained to Harry the finer points of the work of old masters. In Paris he worked at the Atlier de Grande Chaumiore Gallery until he left France in 1935.

But it was Sir William Rothenstein again who influenced his decision to go to India and join Shantiniketan.

He was admitted to Shantiniketan where he stayed for two and half years and acquainted himself with the beauties of Indian art. It was in India that he really discovered himself as an artist, after seeing the cave paintings of Ajanta. His work was influenced the style of Ajanta paintings and his pallette was a combination of Indian red, yellow ochre, terriverte, and carulean blue. He made a careful study of the cave paintings. He remained, however, a genuinely Sri Lankan painter as much in his subject matter, pallette and mood as in the authenticity of his technique and feeling. In 1953 Harry Pieris was invited by the American embassy to visit the United States on a Smith Mundt Leadership Grant in recognition of the work he was doing to help other artists in Sri Lanka. One of his close artistic associates during this time was Rumanian woman painter, Madame Popesco Harry and did a number of pencil drawings of her and a study of these pictures shows the finesse of his draughtsmanship quality which underlines all his later work.

Harry Pieris is widely known as a portrait painter. But few seems to know that he has painted some fine landscapes. Having proved his mastery of the genre painting and the wood cut, he was able to arouse the enthusiasm of the affluent wealthy Colombo 7 women. This was all the more surprising because he never flattered any of his clients. He painted them as they were, in all their physical imperfection and with all their moral shortcomings and beauty. He was able to use his brush, without hindrance and to good purpose. His used of soft and glowing colour was remarkable. He wielded his brush, to the delight of his own generation and to the enrichment of the generations to come. He will be remembered too for his many landscapes of a brooding and evocative charm.

There were no barriers for Harry between East and West or people of different backgrounds. He was a guiding force and a leading organiser for young artists, while recognising new talent and unearthing young artists all the time. He devoted his time to his consuming passions in arts.

Harry Pieris returned to Sri Lanka in 1938 where already there was significant artistic activity and formed the '43 group in 1943, which made an indelible impression on our artistic development.

In 1983 Harry Pieris had a stroke that left him paralysed. His life spanned eighty years and he died on March 14, 1988.

As a founder member and secretary of the '43 group he gave much of his time to organising the group exhibitions. Today his home at Barnes Place is a gallery of modern Sri Lankan art open to anyone interested in art. Periodically, important exhibitions are held in his gallery. A completely unselfish person he has left his wealth, and a fine collection of about 70 to 80 paintings to the Sapumal Foundation. Thus both within and beyond the 43 group he has had and will continue to have an enormous influence on the younger painters of Sri Lankan art.

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