Looking back: Little-known art of well-known architect
Architectural and abstract: Two of Ismeth Raheem’s works
“I am an architect by profession (now retired), but art has been my first and abiding vocation. It is both a deep-seated passion and an almost daily ritual. Most days I wake up very early and sketch, creating new work or re-working earlier compositions.”
So writes the artist/ architect/ historian/ designer /ornithologist and much more. Next weekend the exhibition at the Lionel Wendt Gallery ‘Ismeth Raheem: Collected Works 1960- 2019’ will offer some rare glimpses of his art and the influences that have shaped him.
In a biographical note titled ‘Influences and Interests: My life in Art’ Raheem describes himself as a modern artist, albeit one whose work is embedded in tradition.
“My work as an artist reflects diverse influences and interests. These include my professional work in architecture and interior design; my research and publications on colonial history, art history and the history of natural history; a life-long interest for both the natural and man-made worlds; and a taste for mythical, fantastical and surreal themes.”
The passion for art that began when he was at Royal College, Colombo saw him in 1958 aged 16, winning a special award for a painting called Railway (based on a work by Monet) at the Ceylon Society of Art’s annual exhibition. Re-connecting with Laki Senanayake, a few years senior to him at Royal also radically changed his outlook, he writes. The Young Artist Group (YAG) founded by Laki, Raheem and a few others at the Lionel Wendt Art Centre in the early 1960s, led him to design – and soon he was invited by Ernest Macintyre, director of the Stage and Set Theatre Group, to design the sets and posters for two plays, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (1961) and Ugo Betti’s Queen and the Rebels(1962).
It was through Laki, that he met Ena de Silva, who had just set up her batik and dyeing workshop in Alfred Place. He plunged in to learning batik as an art form, going onto create wall hangings, some of these massive creations being displayed at exhibitions not just in Colombo but in Chennai, Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark.
Laki it was, who also introduced him to those architects who would leave an enduring legacy-Geoffrey Bawa and Ulrik Plesner. At 19, he began as an architectural assistant at Edwards Reid & Begg, going on to a degree course at Katubedda and in 1966, to complete his architectural degree at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen where he acquired a knowledge of engraving, etching, lithography and ceramics.
“The first few years (1966–1969) of my working life in Bawa and Plesner’s architectural studio were inspirational and exciting. Bawa strove to provide clients with interiors, furnishings and artwork that complemented the aesthetic of his buildings. For this task he drew on the expertise of a group of creative artists -Ena de Silva (batik wall hangings), Barbara Sansoni (handloom textiles), Laki Senanayake (pen and ink drawings,beaten brass sheet sculptures, furniture), and myself. My contribution took the form of wall murals, wall hangings and contemporary furniture, as well as other pieces such as the large, gold-leafed, 8ft x 3ft sculpted metal door that I created for Bawa’s Colombo residence (a metal sculpture included in the exhibition is based on a similar technique),” he writes.
Foreign exchange was scarce and imports of key raw materials were severely restricted, so they looked to local materials. “Many of the wall murals I produced for the Serendib and other Bawa hotels constructed in the 1960s and early 1970s,were executed with Samara (an indigenous yellow ochre paint sourced from earthcuttings) and Robin Blue (a laundry detergent), both of which were cheap and readily available.”
“The exhibition features a series of paintings of Sri Lanka’s colonial era forts, and some abstract compositions that incorporate elements or perspectives from measured drawings or architectural plans. These reveal my absorption with the documentation of architectural history,” he adds. Between 1961-65, he would, in a project initiated by Ulrik Plesner document Sri Lanka’s indigenous and colonial buildings of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries with Plesner, Barbara Sansoni and Laki.
The bird drawings at the exhibition reflect his abiding interest in ornithology – drawn from life as well as from specimens preserved in the Colombo Museum.
The exhibition ‘Ismeth Raheem: Collected Works 1960-2019’ is open from 11 a.m to 6 p.m from June 29 to July 1 at the Lionel Wendt Gallery.