Famous Sri Lankan artist Max Gerreyn passes away – by Douglas Jones
A note from eLanka:
We invite you to view the live streaming event for Mr Maxwell Gerreyn
This event is scheduled to begin on: Friday, April 21st 2023 at 2:15 PM (Australia/Perth):
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Please see below, the Link to watch the service:
https://bowraodea.com.au/funeral-search/client/?nid=5b5c9af2-4f50-4e8a-8270-59f24f062497
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Well-known and notable Sri Lankan-born artist Max Gerreyn, passed away on March 10, after suffering a stroke in Western Australia. He was a schoolmate of mine at St Benedict’s College, Colombo, Sri Lanka from the late 1940s and remained a dear friend ever since. His friends were countless and he stayed in constant touch with every one of them. Although I lived in Sydney, we were in contact by telephone regularly. Max (affectionately known as ‘Maxie’ by all who knew him) was a reputed artist, cartoonist and caricaturist both in Australia and Sri Lanka for more than five decades. He was 86 years old at the time of his death.
Max was surrounded from infancy by the Gerreyn family from Kotahena in Colombo, a family made up of a long line of artists – his paternal grandfather was an artist/painter, his mother an art teacher and his older brother the late Mark, a well-known newspaper cartoonist in Sri Lanka.
Max started his career as an artist at a young age. His view of art was somewhat different to others of his kin. “I had a dream”, he told me once. “I was determined to outdo them and have my own place in the sun. I believed in my inherent love for drawing the human figure.
“That was my predilection and passion always,” he continued. “The works of Michaelangelo, Leonado da Vinci, Velasquez, Goya, Gainsborough and Augustus John inspired me throughout.
“I also owed a lot to the great and venerable Mudaliyar ACGS Amerasekera, that doyen of Sri Lankan portrait painters and other greats like Stanley Abeysinghe, David Paynter, JDA Perera and of course, my own St Benedict’s College art master, the gentle KS Perera.”
As a schoolboy, Max had his paintings, cartoons, caricatures and other drawings published in various College publications. From the time he left St Benedict’s, his cartoons and drawings appeared in numerous newspapers and periodicals in Sri Lanka. He created the popular cartoon characters Chula and Thilaka, published in the Dawasa Group of newspapers that grew in popularity in no time. His Chula soon appeared in the Weekend Sun to become the first cartoon to be printed in colour in Sri Lanka.
After migrating to Australia, he obtained Diplomas in Fine Art and Cartooning from the College of Journalism of NSW.
On retirement from the Public Service in 1999, he devoted all his time to painting and cartooning in several publications, including as a regular contributor to this publication. He also did a series of cartoons for The Ceylankan, distributed worldwide.
His portrait paintings in oils, and others as cartoons and sketches have been sold to numerous collectors and through other outlets in Australia, UK, USA and Sri Lanka.
Max’s artistic dreams did not rest there, but extended to bigger and better ventures. He directed his brushes and spatulas to entering Sydney’s prestigious Archibald Prize where Australia’s best painters display their creations annually.
In 2005, Max invited the Sri Lankan-born Rev. Dr. Roger Herft, the Anglican Archbishop of Perth to sit for a portrait which was exhibited at the Archibald that year.
His love for caricature and satirical counterpoint (urged by his own larrikin inclinations) lured Max to try his hand at the Bald Archy art award, created in 1994 by the Riverina Shire Council in NSW. The Bald Archy, was a lampooning of the serious Archibald Prize, providing artists of all styles and standards ranging from the hilarious to the bizarre, to create portrait paintings of humour, light comedy, dark satire and caricature. He submitted three entries for this exhibition through the years.
The Black Swan Prize, one of Australia’s richest Prizes for Portraiture held in Western Australia was next on his bucket list. He submitted four entries through the years. His friend Russell Raymond with Buddy (his pet dog) was his first entry. Following year it was WA’s King of the Blues Rick Steel, then a portrait of Fr. John Jegorow, Parish Priest of St. Mary McKillop Church in Ballajura (WA) and Dominic Menegaldo, a former Press photographer was next. Three of the exhibits were purchased by each individual subject of those portraits.
Until illness began to hamper his freedom, Max did not cease to sketch faces and profiles of those he knew, strangers with whom he became acquainted and sundry other places and things that caught his fancy. And with photographic accuracy, most times. His paintings can be found at the NSW Art Gallery, the Pixels Art Shop and other venues displaying artworks for sale.
Maxie, you will be deeply missed by your loving family, and your umpteen number of friends, all of whom will always remember your unique sense of fun, humour and infectious laughter. Rest In Peace my friend.
Here is a link to Max Gerreyn’s page of cartoons on eLanka – https://www.elanka.com.au/elanka-cartoons-by-max-gerreyn/
