LIONEL WENDT
1900-1944, Sri LankaLionel Wendt was one of Asia’s earliest modern photographers and a leading cultural figure in Sri Lanka. A pioneer of modernism in South Asia, he engaged with international art movements such as Surrealism and confidently made them his own. He experimented with technique and subject, using photomontage and solarisation to produce sensual silver gelatin prints spanning portraits and landscapes as well as abstracted object studies grounded in Sri Lankan life. Dedicated to promoting and advancing the country’s local culture, Wendt founded the influential 43 Group, an artistic collective in opposition to mainstream colonial and academic aesthetics.
Lionel Wendt studied law at the Inner Temple and music at the Royal Academy in London between 1919 and 1924. His work has been shown internationally, including, most recently: Tate Modern, London (2022); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2021); Tate Britain, London (2020); MASP, São Paulo (2017); Huis Marseille, Amsterdam (2017); Documenta 14, Athens (2017); Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka (2016); 10th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju (2014).
Wendt’s work is included in numerous important collections, including Qatar Museums, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis; National Gallery of Canada, Ottowa; Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah; Tate, London; The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; and The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Courtesy Jhaveri Contemporary
Works at Jhaveri Contemporary
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