Ivan Peries (Sri Lankan, 1921-1988)
Untitled (Coastal Scene)
signed and dated 'Ivan Peries 1960' lower right
watercolour on paper, framed
36.3 x 52.8cm (14 5/16 x 20 13/16in).
Footnotes:
Born near Colombo, Peries spent the majority of his life in London and Southend-on-Sea, where he settled with his wife and children. As a founding member of the Colombo '43 Group, which included artists like George Keyt, George Claessen, Geoffrey Beling and the photographer Lionel Wendt, he was instrumental in creating a new visual language in Sri Lankan Art. The group succeeded in incorporating European modernist trends into a distinctly Sri Lankan modernist art.

In the present lot, he was preoccupied with the idealisation of the Ceylonese landscape. This was especially the case with his works in the 1950s and 1960s, when he focussed on depicting the richness of coastal fishing villages and indigenous life. The figures to the lower left of the work are repeated motifs and can be seen in one of his works included in the V & A's Collection (Accession number. IS.53-1985). His works are also part of the Collections of the Imperial War Museum, London, the Petit Palais, Paris; The Sapumal Foundation, Sri Lanka and the Anton Wickremasinghe Collection, Sri Lanka.
This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: *
* VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.