People of Sri Lanka: Lionel Wendt's Portraits

Lionel Wendt was an important figure in the development of modern and contemporary art in Sri Lanka (erstwhile Ceylon) who carved an influential legacy as a photographer, concert pianist and critic in the early and mid-twentieth-century. Born in Colombo and being of Dutch Burgher descent, Wendt was sent to Europe for his higher education. He studied both law and music in England before returning to Sri Lanka in 1924. In 1934, Wendt revived the Amateur Photographic Association of Ceylon as the Photographic Society of Ceylon. He was also a founding member of the ’43 Group—a collective of modernist practitioners who broke away from the ongoing pictorial academic traditions of the times.

Lionel Wendt’s Ceylon, published in 1950 by Lincolns-Prager (London, United Kingdom), remains one of the few published collections of his works. Having gone out of print, it has become a collector’s item in itself today. The book is divided into sections titled “Landscapes,” “Types,” “Nudes,” “Details,” “Buildings and Ornaments,” “Fantasy” and “Heads.” It also includes an introduction by LC Van Geyzel (who provides insights into Wendt’s personal life) as well as a technical introduction by Bernard G. Thornley (who comments on Wendt’s novel use of techniques like solarisation). Presented here is a curation of images from the book, charting the various sections in an attempt to present an overview of Wendt’s dynamic oeuvre.

Wendt captured the people of Sri Lanka in meticulously framed portraits, creating stark images of the human anatomy. He photographed bodies at work as well as in leisure, with a modernist lens focusing on the shapes, shadows and textures they created. His gaze seems anthropological while simultaneously creating artistic abstractions.

To read more about Wendt’s role with regard to photography in Sri Lanka, please click here.

All images by Lionel Wendt. From Lionel Wendt’s Ceylon. London: Lincoln-Pragers Publishing, 1950.

Click on the image to view the album