Sunday Times 2
LWMF to bring Lionel Wendt’s unique legacy to the fore
View(s):The Lionel Wendt Memorial Fund (LWMF) has announced a number of exciting initiatives, for local and international audiences, aimed at raising awareness about its unique art collection, a press release from the Fund stated.
The LWMF was established in 1948 with the purpose of perpetuating the legacy of Lionel Wendt (1900 -1944); it will celebrate its 70th anniversary in 2018 and is the only officially elected non-profit organisation in the world assigned to look after Wendt’s legacy and his collection of artworks.
Lionel Wendt, Beauty, midnight, vision dies. n.d. Image: Courtesy Lionel Wendt Memorial Fund/Photo: Studio Times Ltd.
Lionel Wendt was one of the founding members of the ‘43 Group’, Sri Lanka’s first Modernist collective of artists formed in 1943 in Colombo. Though his name needs no introduction to audiences in Sri Lanka, perhaps many may not be familiar with the extraordinary body of work he produced as a photographer. Made in the 1930s at a time when photography was a relatively new art form, his prints are some of the most important works in the history of photography. Wendt is indisputably a figure of major national and international interest, whose legacy lies in a magnificent body of work that he left behind after his premature death in 1944.
The original LWMF collection is the single largest collection of work by Lionel Wendt. Alongside Wendt’s own photographs, the collection also includes key examples of work by other artists in the group, such as W.J.G Beling (1907-1977), Aubrey Collette (1920-1992), and George Keyt(1901-1993).
For many years the LWMF has recognised that its collection has significant educational and cultural value. At the same time, it recognised that finding expertise and resources, in addition to assessing the condition of the collection, were priorities that needed to be addressed first. For the last 18 months, the Trust has been working with the acclaimed international curator Sharmini Pereira in the role of Chief Curator, Collections and is delighted to announce that Pereira and her team has recently completed the first phase of an extensive cataloguing process. The research has revealed many new insights about Wendt’s work and provides the starting point for the LWMF’s programme over the next 5 years.
To this end, plans are in development to show part of the collection as a permanent exhibit, giving visitors to the Lionel Wendt Art Centre an unprecedented opportunity to look at and study Wendt’s work within a dedicated gallery space.A parallel project includes the creation of the largest digital image archive of Wendt’s work, including documents and information related to his career and life. A picture library of images for reproduction purposes will be made available to those wishing to use images of Lionel Wendt’s work for scholarly, educational or critical purposes. Image requests will be handled in line with international standards for image rights and accreditation.
A series of publications and events about Wendt’s unique legacy are also being developed with scholars and curators. All these initiatives draw from works in the LWMF’s collection, which currently contains over 350 photographs by Lionel Wendt. Although it is the largest official collection of his work, the original collection is estimated to have included over 1500 photographs. Reassembling the collection, as a digital archive, is of utmost importance if Wendt’s work is to be comprehensively studied and enjoyed. The Trust will be making every effort to contact those who believe they own his work so that it can be documented.
The creation of such a learning resource will not only be the largest of its kind but will also be of national interest, establishing Lionel Wendt’s place in the history of photography and as part of Sri Lanka’s cultural heritage, the press release adds.