Taprobane Collection / Aubrey Collette

Aubrey Collette (1920 – 1992)

‘A perspicacious judge of art in all its manifestations…’ (G. Claessen)

An artist increasingly popular as a Sri Lankan cartoonist was enjoyed by many, though, would not have been satisfied with every political attitude he was to take. His work was originally seen in the ‘Times of Ceylon’ and later in the ‘Observer’ and ‘Daily News’.

He gave a sharp edge to his drawings which cut deeply but never maliciously. Collette was gifted with the art of observation: in the early days to be noticed by Collette was in itself an honour.

Collette’s ‘1954 FACES’ which was published in that year is a collection of seventy-three pastel studies of prominent Sri Lankan personalities. These portraits were also seen at an exhibition at the Colombo Art Gallery. Another book ‘Sun Tan: The Asian Sensation’ was published in 1985 by the Times Books International.

His subjects were mainly politicians and people in public places. The remarkable talent of Collette was the ability to summarise these figues not just for their appearance but for what they truly were. Dr. G. P. Malalasekera wore his OBE perpetually pinned on to his white shirt; C.W.W. Kannangara held aloft the pearl of great price of free education – small symbols that marked their special conceit.

His work was happiliy recived in Australia, Malaysia and other places mainly because it tapped the universal foibles they symbolize and not merely lay open with surgical precision of the individual personality he caricatured.

The portraits of George Keyt, Ivan Peries and others of the 43 Group are indeed works of a master achieved with accuracy of line, economy and an unfailing touch of affection and humour.

Extracted from Rodrigo (2001-9) and Weeraratne (1993)

Name of Exhibition	Year	Place
43 Group 2nd Exhibition	1944	Darley Road, Colombo
43 Group 3rd Exhibition	1945	Darley Road, Colombo
43 Group 4th Exhibition	1946	Darley Road, Colombo
43 Group 5th Exhibition	1947	Guildford Crescent, Colombo
43 Group 6th Exhibition	1948	Guildford Crescent, Colombo
43 Group 7th Exhibition	1949	Colombo
43 Group 8th Exhibition	1950	The Art Gallery, Guildford Crescent, Colombo
43 Group Contemporary Ceylonese Painting	1952	Imperial Institute, London
Exposition de L’Art Contemporain De Ceylon	1953	Paris
Exhibition of Contemporary Painters from Ceylon	1954	The Heffer Gallery, Cambridge
6 Contemporary Ceyloneses Painters	1954	Artists International Association Gallery, London
43 Group 10th Exhibition	1955	The Art Gallery, Colombo
43 Group 10th Exhibition	1956	The Art Gallery, Vennice
Exhibition of Contemporary Paintings and Drawings from Ceylon	1956	Arts Council Gallery, Cambridge
43 Group 11th Exhibition	1956	The Art Gallery, Guildford Crescent, Colombo
43 Group 12th Exhibition	1957	The Art Gallery, Guildford Crescent, Colombo
43 Group 13th Exhibition	1959	The Art Gallery, Guildford Crescent, Colombo
A Loan Exhibition of Commonwealth	1960	Norwich Castle Museum, UK
43 Group 14th Exhibition	1964	The Art Gallery, Guildford Crescent, Colombo
43 Group exhibition to honor George Keyt	1991	Colombo
Sketch book	2008	Sapumal Foundation, Colombo 07
Exhibition of the ’43 Group and Other Artists by The Taprobane Collection	2017	Nelum Arts Centre, Colombo

Name of Book	Year of Publication	Author	Printer
Ceylon since Soulbury – Part 1	1948	Aubrey Collette	The Times of Ceylon
1954 Faces	1954	Aubrey Collette	-
Sun Tan: The Asian Sensation	1985	Aubrey Collette	Times Books International
Other Publicaitons the Artist has been mentioned in
Name of Book	Year of Publication	Author	Printer
Art in Sri Lanka – The Anton Wickramasinghe Collection	1988	Albert Dharmasiri	ANCL – Lake House
43 Group	1993	Neville Weereratne	Lantana Publishing
50 years in Cartoons	1998	Compiled by six authors	Associated Newspapers of of Ceylon Ltd
Visions of an Island – Rare works from Sri Lanka in The Christopher Ondaatje Collection	1999	Neville Weereratne	Harper Collins Publishers Ltd
Moods and Modes – 50 years of Sri Lankan Painting	1999	Martin Russel, Nihal Rodrigo, Ellen Dissanayake, S.B. Dissanayake	George Keyt Foundation / Aitken Spence
J.R. in Cartoons	2002	Prematilleke Mapitigama & Piyasiri Nahawatta	Sridevi Printers (Pvt) Ltd
Artful Resistance – Contemporary Art from Sri Lanka	2010	Edited by Sylvia S. Kasprycki and Doris I Stambra	SKF Publishers
Supplement to the Sapumal Foundation	2018	Rohan De Soysa	The Sapumal Foundation
The Heritage I, II, III		Albert Dharmasiri	R. Rajamahendran