First of a tribute to masters of their craft
View(s):The National Trust- Sri Lanka recently launched the first publication in the series “Seven Artists of an Era at the end of the 20th Century”; The Sculpture of Tissa Ranasinghe written by Neville Weereratne with a preface by Prof. Albert Dharmasiri.
Tissa Ranasinghe’s talents have taken him from the drawing board and easel to the chisel and the mallet – to carve, model and make in stone, in wood or bronze in the casting of a multiplicity of images.
He draws upon his deep appreciation of the life and experiences of the Buddha for his inspiration. He is also influenced by the Hindu pantheon to draw from its poetic expression of the human condition. His craftsmanship as a portraitist has seen the creation of many sculptures of distinguished people in Sri Lanka ; prime ministers, poets, writers, scholars, artists, actors, musicians, dancers and many others.
Neville Weereratne has been writing on art in Sri Lanka since the 1950s when he worked as a journalist on the Daily News and later on the Observer. He is the author of “The ’43 Group : a chronicle of Fifty Years in the Art of Sri Lanka” (1993),”The art of Richard Gabriel” ( 1999), “Visions of an island: Rare Works from Sri Lanka in the Christopher Ondaatje Collection”(1999) and “George Beven: a Life in Art”(2004). He is also a painter who has exhibited his work with the ’43 Group over many years and later took part in joint exhibitions with his wife Sybil Keyt, in Colombo and in Melbourne.
With this book, The National Trust- Sri Lanka pays tribute to Tissa Ranasinghe, the first of several masters of their craft. The others to follow include George Keyt, Geoffrey Bawa, Chitrasena, Amaradeva, Martin Wickramasinghe and E.R. Sarathchandra.
The book is in hard cover and is priced at Rs 3,250. For further information please contact the National Trust- Sri Lanka office on 0112682730.
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