Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1933 Goa, India

Died: 2010 London, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1950

Other name/s: Lanceloté José Belarmino Ribeiro

Biography

Artist Lancelot (né Lanceloté José Belarmino) Ribeiro was born into a Catholic family from Goa (then a Portuguese colony) in Bombay (now Mumbai), India on 28 November 1933. He moved to England in 1950 to study accountancy (which he hated), initially living with his half-brother, the painter Frances Newton Souza, switching in 1951 to study life drawing at St. Martin’s School of Art (until 1953), as well as writing poetry (from 1954) and experimenting with jewellery design. Following National Service in the RAF in 1954, Ribeiro returned to Bombay in 1955 and continued as a poet, becoming a full-time artist in 1958. He held his first solo exhibition at the Bombay Artist Aid Centre in 1961, displaying landscapes, portraits and still lifes painted in a ‘stark’, ‘rampant’ cubist style, and characterised by the free use of a black dipped in varnish, mainly for outlines (The Times of India 1961, p. 5). This sell-out exhibition gained him a commission to paint a 12ft mural for Tata Iron and Steel and he also participated in the exhibition Ten Indian Painters which toured Europe and the USA. In 1962 Ribeiro was nominated for the All India Gold Medal and returned to London, co-founding the Indian Painters' Collective, UK (IPC) in 1963 and initiating the exhibition Six Indian Painters at India House, London in 1964; he held a solo exhibition at Everyman Gallery, Hampstead in 1965. In 1972, he lectured on Indian Art and Culture at the Commonwealth Institute, co-founding the Rainbow Art Group in 1976 (alongside artists such as Indira Ariyanayagam, Uzo Egonu, Taiwo Jegede and Errol Lloyd), which promoted the work of ethnic minorities, organising several exhibitions during the time of its existence. The group evolved into the Indian Artists United Kingdom (IAUK) group in 1978, whose aim was the recognition of its members’ work on an equal basis with their British contemporaries. In 1980 Ribeiro participated in the first IAUK exhibition. In the catalogue accompanying the show the artists declared that ‘We, the members of IAUK, have come to believe that if the issues concerning us are approached collectively, we stand a better chance of succeeding and thus of making a positive contribution to the arts and culture of this country we have now made our home’ (Chambers 2014 p. 39).

Ribeiro went on to exhibit extensively in both solo and group shows in India, Europe, the USA and Canada. His early work, principally townscapes and portraits, was inspired by Indian and Goan architecture and the Christian tradition. He later experimented with polyvinyl acetate (PVA), a precursor of acrylic paint, which had a reduced drying time, and employed a brilliant palette. He largely embraced abstraction during the 1960s-80s, while also exploring landscape and the practice of Tantra and incorporating elements of popular Indian graphic art along with elements of New York Abstract Expressionism. Retrospectives were held at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery (1986) and Swiss Cottage Library Gallery (1987).

Lancelot Ribeiro died in London, England on 25 December 2010. In the catalogue aqccompanying the posthumous exhibition, Restless Ribeiro, held at Asia House, London in 2013, his friend, the Indian poet, translator and critic, R. Parthasarathy, observed that Ribeiro's ‘true subject’ was his ‘origins – Goan roots, estrangement from India, and exile in London. How does a human being come to terms with multiple histories and in the process achieve wholeness’. Ribeiro’s work is represented in UK public collections including the British Museum; Burgh House, Hampstead; New Walk Museum & Art Gallery, Leicester; Tate and V&A. In 2020 his work was included in Ben Uri's virtual exhibition, Midnight's Family: 70 Years of Indian Artists in Britain.

Related books

Rachel Dickson ed., Midnight's Family: 70 years of Indian Artists in Britain (London: Ben Uri Gallery & Museum, 2020)
The Roots of the Indian Artists' Collectives (London: Grosvenor Gallery, 2019)
David Buckman, Lancelot Ribeiro: An Artist in India and Europe (Francis Boutle Publishers, 2014)
Katriana Hazell, Restless Ribeiro: An Indian Artist in Britain (London: Grosvenor Gallery, 2013)
'Lancelot Ribeiro', The Times, 24 January 2011, p. 46
P. J. Boylan, Lancelot Ribeiro: Paintings - A Retrospective, 1960-86 (Leicester Museums, 1986)
'Rare & Strange Landscapes: Ribeiro's Paintings', The Times of India, 27 September 1961, p. 8
‘Youth And Sadness: Ribeiro's Paintings’, The Times of India, 11 April 1961, p. 5

Public collections

Related organisations

All India Gold Medal (nominee)
Bombay’s Artist Art Salon (exhibitor)
Commonwealth Institute, London (lecturer)
Indian Artists United Kingdom (member)
Indian Painters' Collective (co-founder)
Rainbow Art Group (founder and member)
St Martin's School of Art (student)

Selected exhibitions

Midnight's Family: 70 years of Indian Artists in Britain, Ben Uri Gallery & Museum, London (online, 2020)
South Asian Modern Art 2020, Grosvenor Gallery, London (2020)
Indian Artists UK, Grosvenor Gallery, London (2019)
Lancelot Ribeiro: A Voyage of Discovery, New Walk Museum & Art Gallery, Leicestershire (2018)
Lancelot Ribeiro: An Artist in India and Europe, Oberon Gallery, Leicester (2018)
Passport to the Motherland - Migration Dreams, V&A, London (2018)
Ribeiro: Life, Love and Passion, V&A, London (2017)
Retracing Ribeiro, Burgh House Museum, London (2016–17)
Lancelot Ribeiro, An Artist in India and Europe, Delhi, Mumbai, Goa and Grosvenor Gallery, London (2015)
Restless Ribeiro, Asia House, London (2014)
Swiss Cottage, Camden, London (1988)
Retrospective, 1960 - 1986, Leicestershire Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester (1986–87)
Brian O'Malley Gallery & Arts Centre, Rotherham (1986)
Ferreira Gomes, London (1986)
Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal (1985)
Gardner Arts Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton (1980)
Economist Intelligence, London (1969)
Everyman Gallery, London (1968)
Mount Gallery, London (1967)
Rawinski Gallery, London (1964)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Lancelot Ribeiro]