Taprobane Collection / Lionel Wendt

Lionel Wendt (1900 – 1944)

‘The moving spirit of the ’43 Group’

A photographer, musician, critic and patron of the arts; Lionel Wendt was a key figure in the promotion of contemporary art and aesthetic in Sri Lanka. The now famous Lionel Wendt Memorial Arts Centre was built on the property he occupied during his brief lifetime. Thousands flock to this centre for the arts in search of that inward content and peace to which Wendt dedicated his property.

His importance was also observed by Basil Wright who was the producer of the now highly acclaimed documentay, Song of Ceylon in 1934. Wright had said that without Wendt there would have been no film.

W.J. Archer claims that ‘ Wendt undoubtedly played a cruicial role in Keyt’s development – partly by encouraging him with patronage, partly through his passionate adhesion to modern art’(Weereratne, 1993;p39).

This passion gave him the capacity to hold together the highly individualistic persons who formed the ’43 Group.

L.C. van Geyzel draws the conclusion in ‘Wendt’s Ceylon’ (Lincolns-Prager, 1950), that although Wendt was called to the Bar ‘it would seem that he had to be an artist and nothing else, and only then his remakable talents come into play’ (Weereratne, 1993;p40).

Wendt was looking for an appropriate means of interpreting Sri Lanka and her people. In 1938, he held a one-man show in London sponsored by Ernst Leitz of the celebrated Leica Company.

Upon Wendt’s death at the age of 44 in the year 1944, it was predicted that it could be the end of the ’43 Group. However the Group, marked the event with its 3^rd exhibition and dedicated it to Wendt.

It is appropriate to ponder in the words of Wendt on a scroll of his dedication to the arts centre that bears his name: "May all honest endeavour in the service of beauty flourish therein and win its reward of inward content and the peace that is only in ceaseless effort". (Weereratne, 1993;p37).

References: Weeraratne (1993)

Name of Exhibition	Year	Place
Various Exhibitions	c.1934-1944	Art gallery Colombo, USA, Asia and England, Camera club London
Inaugaral Exhibition with 12 other photographers	1934	Colombo
One-man photographic exhibition in England on the invitation of Messrs Leitz	1938	United Kingdom
Exhibition for the Opening of the Lionel Wendt Memorial Centre	1959	Lionel Wendt Memorial Centre, Colombo
Exhibition	1970	Town Hall, Colombo
Exhibition in corporation with the Deutsche Bank	1994	Lionel Wendt Centre, Colombo
Exhibition	1999	Paradise Road, Colombo
Paris Photo Fair organized by International European Salon of Photography	1999	Lourve, France
Exhibition	2000	Lionel Wendt Centre, Colombo
Exhibition at the Fukoka Asian Art Museum	2003	Japan
Documenta 14	2017	Athens, Greece
Retrospective Exhibition	2017	Huise Marsellie, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Lionel Wendt Exhibition	2017	Harold Peiris Gallery, Colombo
Exhibition of the ’43 Group and Other Artists by The Taprobane Collection	2017	Nelum Arts Centre, Colombo
Photographs Exhibited all year round at Ton Peek	-	Utrecht, Netherlands
Photography Exhibited all year round at Jhaveri Contemporary	-	Mumbai, India

Name of Book	Year of Publication	Author	Printer
Lionel Wendt's Ceylon	1950	Lionel Wendt Memorial Fund	Lincolns-Prager Publishers Ltd
Lionel Wendt Photographs	1994	Albert Dharmasiri	Lionel Wendt Memorial Fund
Lionel Wendt - A Centennial Tribute	2000	Lionel Wendt Memorial Fund	Ceylon Printers Ltd
Lionel Wendt - Art and Life	2017	Sampath Bandara Translated by Vijita Fernando	Neo Graphics (Pvt) Ltd
Lionel Wendt - Ceylon	2017	Shanay Jhaveri, Stephen Sanders, Nicky van Banning	Fw Books
Other Publicaitons the Artist has been mentioned in
Name of Book	Year of Publication	Author	Printer
43 Group	1993	Neville Weereratne	Lantana Publishing
Documentaries
Name of Documentary	Year of Production
The Song of Ceylon	1934