Ivan Peries was born in Sri Lanka in 1931. Peries' work has largely grown out of his preoccupation with the idealisation of the Ceylonese landscape. The artist was part of the 43 Group, an art group which took inspiration from international art movements based in Paris and London as well as Santiniketan. Members of the group included painters George Keyt and Richard Gabriel. The 43 Group artists were able to create a more secular painting tradition than the one supported by the Ceylon Society of Arts. The artist died in 1969.
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The painting depicts a single standing figure in a long blue robe, one arm crooked. He stands against a mottled blotted background within a heavy ablong border of dark purplish blue. This painting is part of a larger series of paintings begun in 1982. The sense of continuity is preserved partly by inscribing all works '82' regardless of the actual date of execution. The subject is derived from a number of sources; in part from the saints of the Christian tradition, in part from figures observed in his native village and in part it represents the artist himself.
