Justin Pieris Deraniyagala (20 July 1903 – 24 May 1967) was a Sri Lankan painter. Deraniyagala was a founder member of the

Colombo '43 Group The '43 Group was a 20th-century modern art school established in August 1943 in Colombo, Sri Lanka (then British Ceylon). The group was essentially an association of like-minded artists who had broken away from the Ceylon Society of Arts, le ...

of Sri Lankan artists and along with

Lionel Wendt Lionel George Henricus Wendt (3 December 1900 – 19 December 1944) was a pianist, photographer, filmmaker and critic from Sri Lanka. He was the leader of ‘43 Group, a collective of Sri Lankan artists. The Lionel Wendt Art Centre is a major ...

George Keyt George Percival Sproule Keyt, (17 April 1901 – 31 July 1993) was a Sri Lankan painter.

and

Harold Peiris Harold Peiris (1904–1988) was a Sri Lankan lawyer, author, scholar, teacher, patron of the arts, and philanthropist. He was the co-founder of the Lionel Wendt Art Centre and its sole life-trustee.Paul Edward Pieris Sir Paul Edward Pieris Deraniyagala Samarasinha Sriwardhana, (February 16, 1874 – 1959) (''commonly known as'' Sir Paul E. Pieris) was a Ceylonese civil servant and historian. He served as Ceylon's Trade Commissioner and a District Judge and ...

, civil servant and scholar, and Lady Hilda Obeyesekere Pieris. He had a brother

Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala Paulus Edward Pieris Deraniyagala (1900–1976) was a Sri Lankan paleontologist, zoologist, and artist. Early life and education He was born in Colombo, the son of Paul Edward Pieris and Lady Hilda Obeyesekere Pieris. He had two younger brothers, ...

, a zoologist who became the Director of the National Museum of Ceylon and a sister Miriam Pieris Deraniyagala, a performing artist on her own right, her son is the Sri Lankan cellist

Rohan de Saram Deshamanya Rohan de Saram (born 9 March 1939) is a British-born Sri Lankan cellist. Until his 30s, he made his name as a classical artist, but has since become renowned for his involvement in and advocacy of contemporary music. He travels widely an ...

. Deraniyagala was educated at

S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia , motto_translation = Be Thou Forever , song = Thomian Song , athletics = Yes , sports = Yes , nickname = Thora , denomination = Anglican , patron ...

, received his art training at Atellier Art School under Mudaliyar A.C.G.S. Amaraseker, at the Training College under Bergen and C.F. Winzer. In 1921, he entered

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, graduating in 1924 with a BA having read law. At Cambridge, Deraniyagala won blues at Bantam Weight Boxing. He went on to

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

, winning the first prize for drawing in 1928. He spent the next few years in London and in Paris studying and working, where he was influenced by the works of

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...

and Georges Braque. He returned to Ceylon in 1935, and worked for the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

on Ceylon antiquities and with Bronisław Malinowski. He was elected Vice President of the Ceylon National Committee of International Association of Art. He developed his style, focused on the human figure, usually female. One of his notable paintings was ''The Blue Nude'' of the American-born French entertainer

Josephine Baker Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...

. In 1943, he with like-minded artists formed the

, and had his paintings on display in London and Venice in 1950's. The art critic

John Berger John Peter Berger (; 5 November 1926 – 2 January 2017) was an English art critic, novelist, painter and poet. His novel '' G.'' won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism '' Ways of Seeing'', written as an accompaniment to the ...

, described Deraniyagala as a philosopher painter. Deraniyagala never married, he died on 24 May 1967, aged 64 at his family home, Nugedola Wallauwa in Pasyala in the

Gampaha District Gampaha District ( si, ගම්පහ දිස්ත්‍රික්කය ''gampaha distrikkaya'', ta, கம்பஹா மாவட்டம் ''Kampahā Māvaṭṭam'') is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level admini ...

References

1903 births 1967 deaths Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art 20th-century Sri Lankan painters Sinhalese artists People of British Ceylon {{SriLanka-bio-stub