A life dedicated to colour

On show will be nearly 60 oil paintings, the majority of which are large portraits - spanning nearly four decades from 1942 onwards. Additionally, there are large canvases of Circus Busch, Berlin, a troupe that visited Sri Lanka in 1956, an elephant kraal scene in Panamure and harvesting in Buddhagaya. A selective collection of the artist's work in both oils and watercolours have been gathered together for exhibition through the generosity of the many owners who have loaned their pictures.

In his foreword to the catalogue which accompanies the exhibition, Neville Weeraratne writes - 'Maisie de Silva's portraits are of a quality remarkably unlike any of those of her peers, though she herself was a pupil of Mudaliyar Amarasekara. She has achieved likenesses of astonishing clarity and interpreted personal characteristics with profound intuition. And she has achieved this with a spontaneity rarely seen in formal portraiture as we have seen it practised in Sri Lanka".

There are also over 60 paintings in watercolours. One of them being the head and shoulders of her son done in 1941. Then there are landscapes, seascapes, flowers and birds - drawings of which have been made not only in Sri Lanka but also in England and America. Her watercolours are expertly executed with deft brushwork in a style that is easy on the eye. An 8ft x 2ft copy of a temple fresco of drummers, musicians and dancers from an inner wall of the Sunandaramaya temple in Ambalangoda painted in the early 1940s was exhibited by the British Museum and is now in their permanent collection. 

The pencil sketches encompass many portrait studies and ancient archaeological sites. To add to the rich experience of the exhibition, is an indelible and permanent keepsake in the form of an 80 page catalogue with near on 180 colour illustrations with 20 in sepia tone.

Included in this catalogue is a biography of the artist which takes one back to her schooldays, when from the age of 10 she was attending private art classes given by Miss Florence Mason from the British Slade School of Art. By the age of 15 she was teaching art to other students at Ladies' College in lieu of school fees! She was also a regular exhibitor at the Ceylon Society of Arts. A radio interview with her in 1949 by Jag Mohan (Indian art critic and journalist who spent some years in Sri Lanka), is remarkably informative of the artist-sitter relationship.

A chapter on exhibitions reveals that Maisie won medals and commendations at every major exhibition held in Sri Lanka from 1922 onwards as well as at international exhibitions in Delhi, Sydney and the Commonwealth Institute exhibition in London in 1964. 

In 1961 she exhibited her work at the Summer Salon Royal Institute Galleries in London. In1964 and again in 1984, the Alliance Francaise, Colombo, sponsored two exhibitions. And in 1982 she exhibited in Claremont, California, where she sold a large number of her watercolour exhibits.

She received the Kalapathi Award, on the occasion of the Ceylon Society of Arts Centenary (1887-1987), "in appreciation of dedicated services rendered towards the cause of Art, Sculpture and Cultural Activities in Sri Lanka".

The present exhibition in the nature of a retrospective has been organised as a tribute to a fine artist, a portrait painter, landscapist and watercolourist. All proceeds from the catalogue which is on sale for Rs. 500/- will be donated to the Mallika Home, Colombo.

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