Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1921 Dehiwala, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)

Died: 1988 Southend-on-Sea, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1953

Other name/s: Ivan St Elmo Ignatius Peries

Biography

Painter Ivan Peries was born into an educated Roman Catholic anglicised family near Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on 31 July 1921. He mastered English from a young age and spent his early years in Dehiwela, a coastal town on Sri Lanka’s western seaboard. Peries’ father, Dr. James Francis Peries, pursued medical studies in Scotland, while his mother, Ann Gertrude Winifred Jayasuria, was an alumna of St. Bridget’s Convent in Colombo. Peries’ parents wanted him to pursue a university education, but he resisted. Instead, and following the recommendation of Sri Lankan filmmaker and photographer, Lionel Wendt, he took classes with the London-educated Sri Lankan painter Harry Pieris. Both Peries and Pieris were part of a group of modernist Sri Lankan artists and intellectuals who, in 1943, founded the ‘43 Group. Their aim was to combine local traditions with European trends and to break away from conventional artistic norms, particularly those of the Ceylonese Society of Arts. Martin Russell, a British diplomat and investment banker, was the patron of the group.

Peries first moved to England in 1946, when he was awarded a government scholarship to attend St John’s Wood School of Art and the Anglo-French Centre in London. Russell supported Peries by covering the cost of his London flat during his studies, with the understanding that he would have first refusal on any paintings Peries sold many of his works during the 1940s. In 1949, Peries returned to Ceylon but, in 1953, he moved back to London as a form of self-exile. To make ends meet, he took on a range of odd jobs, such as messenger, builder’s assistant, and hospital employee. In 1955, he married Veronica (née Perry) and the couple settled with their four children in Southend-on-Sea in Essex.

Peries exhibited both in Sri Lanka and in the UK, including with the Artists international Association (AIA, 1954). Maintaining links with his homeland, he regularly showcased his art with the '43 Group in Colombo and he participated twice in the Venice Biennale. In 1952, his work was featured in an exhibition of Sinhalese paintings at the Imperial Institute Galleries in South Kensington, highlighting the contributions of the '43 Group. in 1964, Donald Bowen, Assistant Curator of the (now renamed) Commonwealth Institute, mentioned both Peries and Ranil Deraniyagala in a review of Commonwealth artists, as ‘two Ceylon painters living in England of considerable but different ability. Peries’ work is of delicate colour. Deraniyagala is vigorous,’ (The Sphere, 1964, p. 286). Two years later, in 1966, he featured in a two-person show at the same venue. However, Peries experienced a challenging period in the 1970s, when his works were not much exhibited. Posthumously, in 1989, Peries’ paintings were included in the major exhibition The Other Story: Asian, African and Caribbean Artists in Post-War Britain at the Hayward Gallery, which aimed to celebrate artists from these hitherto neglected regions. He was one of only two artists mentioned by name in a brief press review, which described his 1938 portrait of James Aagte as "superb" (Steven, 1990, p. 11). Subsequently, two of Peries’ paintings were involved in an international diplomatic dispute. In 1999, Russell sued the Sri Lankan High Commission in London for failing to return two of Peries’ works, The River and The Beach, painted in London between 1947 and 1948, and valued at around £50,000. Russell had purchased them for around £100. The paintings were loaned to the High Commission in 1950 for an indefinite period for display at their London premises, with the agreement that they would be returned in 1997 for public exhibition. However, according to the Western Daily Press, the High Commission invoked diplomatic immunity and did not respond to the High Court, offering odd justifications for retaining the paintings. The case was eventually taken up by a Tory MP (Humphrey, 1999, p. 3).

Peries’ focus on portraying rural landscapes and the coastal areas, coupled with his experience of being culturally uprooted, helped to establish him as a key name in modern Sri Lankan art. During his student days, he created several panel studies, focusing predominantly on portraits, figures, and nudes. Throughout his career, his modernist and experimental style remained as much connected to pre-modern Asian traditions as to European 20th century expressionism, his entire oeuvre, nevertheless, permeated by a sense of tranquillity, balance and clarity. His major influences include the aforementioned photographer and filmmaker, Lionel Wendt and, from the Western tradition, painters: Piero della Francesca, Fra Angelico, El Greco, Henri Matisse, Amadeo Modigliani, and Paul Cézanne. He was also profoundly interested in European spirituality, ranging from Gregorian chants to Hildegarde von Bingen.

Ivan Peries died on 13 February 1988 on Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. His works are held in several public collections in the UK, including the Imperial War Museum; Pembroke College, University of Oxford; and the V&A.

Related books

Qadri Ismail, ‘Ivan Peries and the Outriggers to Association-An Essay to Ian Goonetileke’, The Sri Lanka Journal of the Humanities, vol. 34, no .1 & 2, 2008, pp.1-31
David Humphrey, ‘Riddle of “loan” paintings’, Western Daily Press, 30 March 1999, p. 10
Senaka Bandaranayake and Manel Fonseka, Ivan Peries: Paintings 1938 – 88 (Colombo: Tamarind Publications, 1996)
Alasdair Steven, ‘Exhibition’, Fulham Chronicle, 4 January 1990, p. 11
Donald Bowen, ‘Variety of Visual Styles’, The Sphere, 23 May 1964, pp. 282-286
Robert Furneaux Jordan, 6 Contemporary Ceylonese Painters (London: Artists International Association, 1954)

Public collections

Related organisations

Artists' International Association (AIA) (exhibitor)
St John's Wood School of Art (student)

Selected exhibitions

The Other Story: Asian, African and Caribbean Artists in Post-War Britain, Hayward Gallery, London (1989)
43 Group (group show), Newman Rooms, Oxford (1979)
43 Group 16th Exhibition (group show), The Art Gallery/Guildford Crescent, Colombo (1967)
Ivan Peries and Viren Sahai, Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery, London (1966)
Ivan Peries (solo exhibition), St Catherine’s College, Oxford (1965)
Paintings by Syed Azzudin, Ivan Peries, and Hussein Shariffe (group show), Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford (1963)
Paintings by Ivan Peries and Peter Peterson (dual exhibition), Queenswood Gallery, London (1962)
International group show, Venice Biennale, Venice (1956 and 1958)
6 Contemporary Ceyloneses Painters (group show), Artists International Association Gallery, London (1954)
Exposition de L’Art Contemporain De Ceylon (group show), Petit Palais, Paris (1953)
Singhalese Paintings (group show), Imperial Institute Galleries, London (1952)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Ivan Peries]