An exhibition of paintings by Neville Weereratne will be held at the Alliance Francaise, Kandy from November 22 to December 13.The paintings are from the Taprobane Collection owned by Shamil Peiris and his family.
Neville Weereratne a second generation member of the ’43 Group is no stranger to us Sri Lankans. He had his education at St. Joseph’s College, Colombo where he was motivated by Richard Gabriel (A founding member of the ’43 Group) the Art master at the time, to develop his interest in Art. He also attended classes with Ivan Peries (a founding member of the ’43 Group). With these relationships Neville was given the opportunity to exhibit with the ’43 Group for the first time, at the Imperial Institute Galleries in London, in 1952, which was also the first overseas exhibition for the ’43 Group. One of Weereratne’s early interests was designing for the theatre, which he practised in association with the late Arthur van Langenberg. He was also Art Master at St Peter’s College for four years from 1949 to 1952, and worked as a journalist attached to ANCL, between 1952 – 1966.
Leaving for Australia in 1971, Neville, with his wife Sybil Keyt, one of the most successful and accomplished students of the Melbourne Art Class conducted by Mrs. Cora Abraham, is known for his unfailing love for Art and the motherland. His art has always been influenced by rural Sri Lanka and its people, an aspect that would easily touch Sri Lankan hearts.
Weereratne’s work has been seen at many exhibitions in Colombo and in Melbourne, Australia some of which were joint exhibitions with his wife Sybil Keyt. He has published several books, including, The ’43 Group, a chronicle of 50 years in the Art of Sri Lanka (1993);
The Art of Richard Gabriel (1998); Visions of an island, the Christopher Ondaatji Collection (1999); George Beven, a Life in Art (2004); A Select Catalogue of the Sapumal Foundation (2009); The Sculpture of Tissa Ranasinghe (2013) and edited Appaluse at the Wendt and critical accounts of various productions at the Lionel Wendt Theatre (2003); and the Supplement to the Sapumal Foundation Collection (2017).