Painter dazzled by spiritual beauty
By Tissa HEWAVITARANE
Painters differ widely in the degree of their versatility. They
differ, too, in the variety of their development. There exists artists
of different kinds who are not versatile and whose work changes very
little. Among the painters who are the subjects of these changes are
those who are versatile and modest.
David Paynter showed qualities that posterity may consider attributes
of genius. He left for England to study art. He had no formal art
lessons but entered the Royal Academy by winning a five-year scholarship
in the open competition with students. Who had received formal
instructions in European art Schools.
He won the Royal Academy Gold Medal at the end of the fourth year
along with the Edward Stott Travelling Scholarship which gave him two
years in Italy. IN 1925 he returned to Sri Lanka and started work on the
Trinity College chapel murals. In 1936 he visited London for the third
time which was a very productive and rewarding period in his art career.
His one man exhibition at the Wretheim Galleria in London brought him
much recognition from art critics and journals in Europe. By invitation
he participated in four international exhibitions in the Carnegie
Institute in Pittsburg in Rome, in New Delhi and at the World Fair held
in New York. From 1923 to 1940 his paintings were exhibited every year
at the Royal Academy in London. The themes of most of his early works
are religious. In 1923 two of his best pictures 'The Triumphal Entry
into Jerusalem' and the 'Entombment' were considered powerful and
dramatic statements of deeply-felt religious experiences. David Paynter
conceived of Christ and the biblical incidents in terms of his own
country and its people. The murals he painted in the chapel of Trinity
College with Sri Lankan models and the setting of the composition is
drawn from his immediate surroundings in nature from rocks, trees
etc....
Having proved his mastery and his ability to arouse the enthusiasm of
his public with his religious pictures, David Paynter now turned, his
hand to another branch of art - portrature. Here he was very successful
indeed. Nearly all the celebrated personages of the period submitted at
one time or another, to have their likeness perpetuated by this
relentless realist of the brush. To be painted by Paynter became the
fashion indeed, the passion - of the day. From morning till night his
studio was besieged by wealthy women of Colombo 7. The sitter were proud
of their portraits. For they saw in it what they wanted to see the human
figure depicted in colossal proportions upon a canvas of enormous size.
His clients ranged from British Governors to the Prime Ministers of Sri
Lanka. On invitation in 1954 he painted the official portrait of
Jawaharlal Nehru Prime Minister of India. Another aspect of Paynter's
art was his presentation of male beauty in his male nudes and
semi-nudes.
His eyes were dazzled by the spiritual beauty and symbolise harmony
between man and God, based on the Christian belief, the God created man.
One idea frequently expressed was the concentration on drawing the human
figure that still provides a challenge and indeed a super test for the
draughtsman. The reason for this he would explain was that the practice
of any he would explain was that the practice of any form of art
requires the powers of organisation and coordination. The drawing of the
human figure with its problems of construction, articulation and
movement provides invaluable exercises on the development of this power.
It was David's honesty and humility as well as his learning that
influenced generation of students - while his unfailing courtesy won him
their affection and respect.
As a portrait painter he gave magnificent expression to the qualities
that characterised his sitters.
In 1962 he hung his pallette and brushes and became a farmer in
Kumburumpiddi 15 miles north of Tincomalee. In 1968 he took time off
from the Trinco farm and painted his great masterpiece. 'The
Transfiguration' mural at St. Thomas' College Chapel, Mt. Lavinia. David
Paynter, the son of a missionary parents, was born in Alrrora, North
India. His father was an Englishman and his mother a Sinhalese, of a
Southern Sri Lankan family. His mother came from an old family of
Christians who lived and flourished on rubber, coconut and citronella in
an around Hikaduwa, Dodanduwa and Baddegama.
David Paynter was still at work when death came to snatch the still
glowing brush from his hand. He died of a heart attack on June 7, 1975.
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