Stanley Kirinde is a Sri Lankan painter who was born as Sarathchandra Madduma Bandara Wickremasinghe Kirinde in Deegala, Kandy in 1930. He received his primary and secondary education from Trinity College, Kandy and went on to study History at the University of Ceylon in 1950. Kirinde showed an interest in art from his early years as he enjoyed painting and sketching at art lessons given at school. Lakshman Kadirgamar, a friend and classmate, remembered him as a child prodigy: “we stood around him spellbound as he sketched, drew and painted in watercolors and oil, effortlessly, day after day, with an astonishing clarity and command of style for one so young. As he won every class prize in art and at a young age competed successfully in national competitions, he became to us a heroic figure able to do what none of the others could aspire to achieve.” This childhood hobby eventually became a lifelong passion that gave Kirinde legitimacy and recognition internationally as a representative of the growing Sri Lankan visual art context. 

While working as an administrative officer for the government, he exhibited his works in Sri Lanka, as well as in Japan, USA, UK, Bangladesh, Brazil and Singapore. His works are a part of many private collections, including the President’s House in Colombo and Kandy, as well as the collection of the Prince of Wales. In 2000, Kirinde was commissioned to do a portrait of HE the President of India, Sri K.R. Narayan. In 2005, Kirinde received the national honour of “Deshabandu” from the President of Sri Lanka. He died peacefully at his residence in Battaramulla in 2009. 

Kirinde leaves an invaluable legacy of paintings for younger generations to engage with. His early works are a reflection of the simplicity and beauty of the rural and village lifestyle he was brought up in. “Village Scene” (1952) is an oil on canvas that depicts a group of men, women and children engaging in different activities of rural life: a man driving a bullock cart, a boy plucking coconuts from a tree and several women and children gathering firewood for the week. The image of the traditional Sri Lankan woman in her redde and hatte (cloth and jacket) or the pleated Kandyan sari is iconic and poignant, as it recreates an essence, as well as nostalgia, associated with that of the Sri Lankan pastoral. The lush vegetation and greenery surrounding these characters are the epitome of the Kandyan landscape. The painting is one of many in which it is evident that Kirinde drew inspiration from the style of murals that dominated the Kandyan Era of rule in Ceylon; these murals would narrate a story of Buddhist origin with interesting characters highlighted with vivid, bright colours (often red, yellow and white) spreading alongside decorative patterns of different shapes.
Art writer and critic SinhaRaja Tammita-Delgoda compares these early works of Kirinde to the works of Paul Gauguin, who often painted his memories of Tahiti, suggesting that the focus on “human activity amidst uncorrupted natural surroundings” manifests a common need to capture “a tropical paradise enriched by gorgeous colour.” “Bathers” (1952) is another painting that was created during his university years, which carries influences of both local and western art.