Taprobane Collection

George Keyt (1901 – 1993)

‘Classic in thought but modenistic in treatment’ (An “Indian Express” correspondent)

 

George Keyt embarked on his journey as a painter at the age of 26, in a period where art work was strongly influenced by Buddhist and Hindu iconography. He was encouraged by Lionel Wendt who  organized exhibitions for Keyt and Beling. This resulted in Keyt and Beling becoming pupils of Charles Freegrove Winzer, the Government Inspector of art. Winzer applauded Keyt in an article in January 1931 edition of “The Studio”, the British Art Journal, in which he mentioned that ‘In Keyts canvases the attitudes and gestures faithfully portray characteristcs of the inhabitants of Ceylon’(Weeraratne, 1993;103).

The colour in Keyt’s work was always brilliant and very well balanced, while the drawing was actively engaged in binding together all the different elements. Most times the work praised the beauty of the female figure. One cannot mistake Keyts work for another.

The monumentality of Keyts paintings can be viewed from his early days. There are substantial elements that make this impressive picture.They begin from his childhood when he was obsessed with certain Christian images – the Holy Family and the Crucifixion. Thereafter he turned to the countryside which nutured his childhood and youth. The Kandyan landscape and the Kandyan people became his subjects in the late 1920s to the 1930s; which soon turned towards the Temple. From the 1930s onwards his style was impregnated with appreciation of the physical form, predominantly female and an all embracing investigation of poetic romance. To  justify his great fondness for  women he turned to things Indian and the Hindu thought, that celebrated the conjuction of the sexes rhapsodized in Indian poetry and sculpture of ancient India. He said “They made a tremendous impression on me and changed my whole life”(Weeraratne, 1993;107).

The 1940s and 1950s is referred to as his ‘Naika’ period, by critics and connoisseurs, a period where he retired from painting and turned to writing poetry. This came in three volumes; “Poems”, “Darkness Disrobed” and “Image in Absence”. Following his withradwal from painting Keyt returned in 1938, to work on the famous mural of the life of Buddha in the Gotami Vihare at Borella in Colombo.

Keyt had 13 pictures at the first 43 Group exhibition in November 1943, which were all acquired by Martin Russell except one which had already been bought by Lionel Wendt.  

Keyt was highly regarded in India. Following his first trip to India in 1939,  he visted Bombay in 1945 as a guest of Mulk Raj Anand and Anil de Silva where he was given a solo exhibition in 1947. In 1950 a retrospective exihibition of Keyt’s work was organized by the Group at the Wendt which had 45 works. This drew unanimous applause from the press. The exhibition was an attempt to trace the developments of the artist’s style of the twenty years of his career. Another one man exhibition was held in 1950 and included 74 paintings. Thereafter Keyt’s work was seen in 1952 in London at the Group’s first exhibition.

In celebration of his work a richly illustrated monograph ‘George Keyt’ edited by Martin Russell, was published in Bombay in 1950. Twenty seven years later, another volume entitled ‘ George Keyt - A Felicitation Volume’ was published in Cololmbo to mark his 75th Birthday.

Extracted from Weeraratne (1993) and Goonetileke (1990)

Name of ExhibitionYearPlace
Exhibited work1929Ceylon Art Club, Colombo
Exhibition (Together with Picasso and Braque)1930Ferguson Memorial Hall, Zwemmer Gallery, London
Two Man Exhibition with Justin Daraniyagala1936National Art Gallery, Colombo
43 Group 1st Exhibition1943Darley Road, Colombo
43 Group 2nd Exhibition1944Darley Road, Colombo
43 Group 3rd Exhibition1945Darley Road, Colombo
43 Group 4th Exhibition1946Darley Road, Colombo
Solo Exhibition1946Mumbai, India
43 Group 5th Exhibition1947Guildford Crescent, Colombo
43 Group 6th Exhibition1948Guildford Crescent, Colombo
43 Group 7th Exhibition1949Guildford Crescent, Colombo
43 Group 8th Exhibition: The Art Gallery1950Guildford Crescent, Colombo
Retrospective exhibition of George Keyt1950Colombo, Sri Lanka
43 Group Contemporary Ceylonese Painting – Imperial Institute1952London, UK
43 Group Contemporary Ceylonese Painting – Imperial Institute1953New Delhi, India
Exposition de L’Art Contemporain De Ceylon1953Paris
Solo Exhibition at Institute of Contemporary Arts1954London, UK
Solo Exhibition at the Arts Institute of Rotterdam1954Rotterdam, Holland
Exhibition of Contemporary Painters from Ceylon1954The Heffer Gallery, Cambridge
43 Group 10th Exhibition1955The Art Gallery, Colombo
43 Group 11th Exhibition: The Art Gallery1956Guildford Crescent, Colombo
The 28th International Biennale1956Vennice
43 Group 12th Exhibition1957The Art Gallery, Guildford Crescent, Colombo
43 Group 13th Exhibition1959The Art Gallery, Guildford Crescent, Colombo
Ceylon: A Painter’s Country: An Exhbition Illustrating the Practice of Painting in Ceylon from the 5th Century to the Present Day – South London Gallery1960Camberwell, London
A Loan Exhibition of Commonwealth Art1960Norwich Castle Museum, UK
43 Group 14th Exhibition1964The Art Gallery, Guildford Crescent, Colombo
43 Group 16th Exhibition1967The Art Gallery, Guildford Crescent, Colombo
George Keyt: Exhibition of Recent Paintings1969Gallery Chemould, Mumbai, India
An Exhibition of Recent Paintings and Drawings by George Keyt1972Samudra Gallery, Colombo
An Exhibition of Recent Paintings and Drawings by George Keyt1972Lionel Wendt, Colombo
Solo Exhbition1974Commonwealth Art Gallery, London, UK
Solo Exhibition1975Kalagaraya, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Selected Paintings and Drawings by George Keyt – Catalouge and Exihibition sponsored by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations1975National Gallery for Modern Art, New Delhi, India
Exhibition in Madras – Invitation of Indian Council for Cultural Regulations1976Madras, India
George Keyt Exhibition of Paintings1978Art Gallery, Colombo
Solo Exhibition by Patrick Seale1982Sally Hunter Gallery, London, UK
George Keyt Exhibition1983Guildford Crescent, Colombo
George Keyt Exhibition organized by the Sapumal Foundation1984Sapumal Foundation, Colombo 07
Catalogue of Twenty Studies and Sketches by George Keyt. Inaugural Exhibition of Ralph Peiris Bequest1986Colombo 3
43 Group exhibition to honor George Keyt1991Colombo
Exhibition of the ’43 Group and Other Artists by The Taprobane Collection2017Nelum Arts Centre, Colombo
Name of BookYear of PublicationAuthorPrinter
George Keyt1950 Martine Russell
George Keyt1954 University of Ceylon, Peradeniya
George Keyt - Paintings and Drawings of Ceylon Exhibition Catalogue (6th Jan - 6 Feb, 1954)1954 Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Gita Govinda1965George KeytKutub-Popular
George Keyt - A Felicitation Volume1977The George Keyt Felicitation CommitteeAitken Spence & Co Ltd.
George Keyt – A Life in Art1989H.A.I. GoonethilekeGeorge Keyt Foundation
George Keyt Drawings1990H.A.I. GoonethilakaGeorge Keyt Foundation
George Keyt1991Ashley HalpeGeorge Keyt Foundation
George Keyt1991Exhibition of PaintingsGeorge Keyt Foundation
George Keyt – A Collection of Poems1991Edited by H. A. I. GoonethilekeGeorge Keyt Foundation
George Keyt - Interpretations1991Sunil GoonasekeraInstitute of Fundamental Studies
George Keyt’s Gothami Vihare Murals1991Albert DharmasiriSridevi Printers
Gotama Buddha Murals1993George Keyt (Text by Anuradha Seneviratne)The George Keyt Foundation
George Keyt Paintings Diary 19931993 George Keyt Foundation
George Keyt – A centennial Anthology2001 The George Keyt Foundation
George Keyt – Nursery Rhymes for my daughter Diana2013Diana KeytVijitha Yapa Publications
The Artist from MARG – George Keyt L.C. Van GeyzelMARG

Other Publicaitons the Artist has been mentioned in

Name of BookYear of PublicationAuthorPrinter
Three Painters1960R. de L. FurtadoDhoomimal Ramchand
Art in Sri Lanka – The Anton Wickramasinghe Collection1988Albert DharmasiriANCL – Lake House
Modern Sri Lankan Painters1992George Keyt FoundationSiri Printers
43 Group1993Neville WeereratneLantana Publishing
Visions of an Island – Rare works from Sri Lanka in The Christopher Ondaatje Collection1999Neville WeereratneHarper Collins Publishers Ltd
Moods and Modes – 50 years of Sri Lankan Painting1999Martin Russel, Nihal Rodrigo, Ellen Dissanayake, S.B. DissanayakeThe George Keyt Foundation / Aitken Spence Printing
The Presidential Collection – Contemporary Sri Lankan Art2008 Presidential Secretariat
Sri Lankan Painting in the 20th Century2009Senake Bandaranayake and Albert DharmasiriThe Nationl Trust Sri Lanka
Supplement to the Sapumal Foundation2018Rohan De SoysaThe Sapumal Foundation
The Heritage I, II, III Albert DharmasiriR. Rajamahendran

Ref :GK 11-63

Title :Untitled (Musicians)

Year :1920’s

Material Used :Pencil, ink and gouache on Paper

Dimensions in Cms. :42.9 x 35

Ref :GK 11-64

Title :Untitled (Musicians)

Year :1920’s

Material Used :Pencil, ink and gouache on Paper

Dimensions in Cms. :39.5 x 30.5

Ref :GK 74

Title :Two Women

Signed :Lower Right

Year :1930’s

Material Used :Oil on Canvas

Dimensions in Cms. :55 x 39.5

Ref :GK 80

Title :Ratti

Signed :Upper Right

Year :1936

Material Used :Oil on Canvas

Dimensions in Cms. :93 x 58

Ref :GK 10-79

Title :Rasa Lila

Signed :Upper Left

Year :1936

Material Used :Oil on Canvas

Dimensions in Cms. :59.5 x 102

Ref :GK 713

Title :Lovers

Signed :Lower Right

Year :1937

Material Used :Oil on Canvas

Dimensions in Cms. :89.5 x 58.5

Ref :GK-11-19

Title :Musicians

Signed :Upper Right

Year :1938

Material Used :Oil on Canvas

Dimensions in Cms. :81.5 x 74

Ref :GK 64

Title :Friends

Signed :Upper Left

Year :1943

Material Used :Water Colour on Paper

Dimensions in Cms. :49.5 x 41.5

Ref :GK 75

Title :Study for Bhima & Jarasandha

Signed :Upper Right

Year :1943

Material Used :Brush Painting on Card

Dimensions in Cms. :42.5 x 51

Ref :GK 428

Title :Nayika

Signed :Top Center

Year :1943

Material Used :Oil on Canvas

Dimensions in Cms. :60 x 47.5

Ref :GK 424

Title :Portrait of Russell’s Soul

Signed :Upper Left

Year :1944

Material Used :Oil on Canvas

Dimensions in Cms. :32 x 44

Ref :GK 76

Title :Recumbent Woman

Signed :Lower Right

Year :1946

Material Used :Oil on Canvas

Dimensions in Cms. :40 x 58

Ref :GK 11-37

Title :Dancer

Signed :Upper Right

Year :1947

Material Used :Water Colour Oil on Paper on Board

Dimensions in Cms. :62 .5 x 37.5

Ref :GK 11-36

Title :Dancer

Signed :Upper Left

Year :1947

Material Used :Water Colour Oil on Paper on Board

Dimensions in Cms. :62 .5 x 37.5

Ref :GK 11-37

Title :Dancer

Signed :Upper Right

Year :1947

Material Used :Water Colour Oil on Paper on Board

Dimensions in Cms. :62 .5 x 37.5

Ref :GK 11-38

Title :Dancer

Signed :Upper Right

Year :1947

Material Used :Water Colour Oil on Paper on Board

Dimensions in Cms. :63.5 x 38

Ref :GK 11-39

Title :Dancer

Signed :Upper Left

Year :1947

Material Used :Water Colour Oil on Paper on Board

Dimensions in Cms. :63 x 37

Ref :GK 11-40

Title :Dancer

Signed :Upper Left

Year :1947

Material Used :Water Colour Oil on Paper on Board

Dimensions in Cms. :63 x 37

Ref :GK 942

Title :Raga Malkosh

Signed :Upper Left

Year :1948

Material Used :Oil on Burlap

Dimensions in Cms. :111 .5 x 78

Ref :GK 77

Title :Urvashi

Signed :Upper Left

Year :1974

Material Used :Conte Crayon on Paper

Dimensions in Cms. :14 x 25

Ref :GK 7

Title :The Golden Swan

Signed :Lower Left

Year :1991

Material Used :Acrylic on Canvass

Dimensions in Cms. :152.5 x 89

Ref :GK 3

Title :Passing of Absence

Signed :Lower Left

Year :1992

Material Used :Acrylic on Canvass

Dimensions in Cms. :110 x 78

Ref :GK 4

Title :Arshirvad

Signed :Lower Right

Year :1992

Material Used :Acrylic on Canvass

Dimensions in Cms. :89 x 152.2

Ref :GK 43

Title :Jhula (The Swing)

Signed :Lower Right

Year :1992

Material Used :Acrylic on Canvass

Dimensions in Cms. :70 x 102.5

Ref :GK 63

Title :Vilaval Ragini

Signed :Lower Right

Year :1992

Material Used :Acrylic on Canvass

Dimensions in Cms. :72 x 106

Ref :GK 66

Title :Lonely Release

Signed :Upper Left

Year :1992

Material Used :Acrylic on Canvass

Dimensions in Cms. :75 x 102.5

Ref :GK 78

Title :Veraheni

Signed :Upper Right

Year :1992

Material Used :Acrylic on Canvass

Dimensions in Cms. :88 x 151.5

Scroll to Top