Immortalizing J. D. A. Perera, the icon of Sri Lankan art
 One artist who stood himself up to the world-renowned Pablo
Picasso and he did it in style when he met this icon in Paris during his
visit to the capital as well as to Rome. A towering figure in the annals
of Sri Lankan art, his intellectuality was stamped in his work
The painter as a portraitist, that’s about J. D. A. Perera; the doyen
of Sri Lankan artists, almost forgotten but looming in the background,
lost to the haze of modern painters that keep cropping up and being left
on the shelf most of the time.
JDA developed his own extraordinary gifts and became the most
memorable and influential portraitist our country ever knew. He created
images of beautiful women, living women, elegant as they came by. His
style rapidly matured and the grandeur of his figures were unprecedented
in painting during his era.
JDA’s ability to achieve perfect realism in his paintings made his
reputation as a painter robust with posterity. JDA did not start his
career as a portraitist but with subjects he chose to experiment upon.
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‘Sita de Seram’ oil on canvas 77 x 67 by J. D. A. Perera.
Exhibited at the National Art Gallery Collection. |
‘Chandraleka’ oil on canvas 72 x 68 by J. D. A. Perera.
Displayed at National Art Gallery Collection. |
The astonishing likeness of figures he put on canvas, made him
realise where his talent lay. He was captivated with beautiful faces and
they influenced his brush and palette.
The photographic accuracy of his models and the phenomenal drawing
ability marvelled even international painters such as British Augustus
John.
After he mastered the intricacies of applying colour and light on his
subjects he was quick to replace the delicacy of techniques and replace
by more vigorous and emphatic medium in oils.
One artist who stood himself up to the world-renowned Pablo Picasso
and he did it in style when he met this icon in Paris during his visit
to the capital as well as to Rome.
A towering figure in the annals of Sri Lankan art, his
intellectuality was stamped in his work. One could see the dynamism
projected in his paintings.
He was born to be great; to fertilize the art scene with excellence.
Internationally recognised JDA’s exhibits were on display with the
Leicester Galleries, Paris Salon, National Portraits Society, Royal
Society of Portrait Painters in England.
In Paris, some were boarded at the Galleries Bretau and in Rome, most
of his portraits were found in the Fine Arts Academy of Rome among many
other centres in Italy. So profuse and large were JDA’s works that
assembling them in world centres came easy to JDA.
J. D. A. Perera was born in 1897 at Pahalagama, Gampaha and lost his
father when he was barely seven years old. A student of Wesley College
and Ananda College, he later followed his chosen art at then Ceylon
Technical College.
His paintings took him to all parts of the world where art lay
supreme and powerful. JDA had no other passion than the fine arts of Sri
Lanka. He also pioneered North Indian music and Kandyan dancing in his
own academy where thousands of students crossed its floors.
He advocated the theory that aesthetic pleasures should be within the
reach of one and all which resulted in him creating hundreds of such
followers.
He made them feel its essentiality to the lifeblood of Sri Lankan
art.
A sanctuary for a great master
The colossal evocation to Sri Lankan art and its ascension to what it
is today (though somewhat disappointing) can be briefly summarised
without hurting the ones who strove to do their beat.
I am not trying to compare our great painters to the likes of
Michelangelo, Raphael, August John or for that matter The French
Impressionists. We should be doing better if we are to trace back your
bygone artists who created an environment for excellence for us to
develop upon.
Suddenly, I was awakened to this realization when I stepped into the
art and sculptor display at the University of Visual and Performing
Arts. Lo and behold, the new gallery I stepped into was dedicated to Sri
Lanka’s illustrious son of her culture, the icon who left behind a
legend and very graciously the staff at the University aptly named this
as the J. D. A. Perera Gallery in his memory.
The lustrous JDA whose women were exotic, oriental and beautiful were
his subject matter and were brilliantly vibrant and the artistic
language beyond comparison. ‘Where was he’ I mused to myself as I
wandered among his magnificence: the glorious richness of what he had
resolved on canvas for our generation to gasp and digest.
Causeway Paints that boasts over 3,000 colour-mixes will be shocked
if they care to take a look at JDA’s colour schemes with which he
painted. Chandraleka in a dance movement has all the hues of the
rainbow, the blues of the ocean, the blacks of the night and the red hot
orange of a burning sun. All these and more have seen his brush caress
without reservation.
Apparently JDA has had two inspirations... his beautiful exotic wife,
Chandraleka and the world renowned British painter, August John - John
had been to JDA’s studio in London many times and was amazed at the
ability and talent of our own icon. So, the admiration of these two
great painters was mutual.
Dr. W. G. Sarath Gnanasiri, Dean of the Faculty of Visual Arts and
the dedicated staff of the University of the Visual and Performing Arts
must be highly commended for their untiring efforts in the establishment
of this new gallery, a gift for the art loving nation of Sri Lanka, not
only of today but for generations to come. |
