Stanley Kirinde: The gentle and cultured artist – MAHINDA WIJESINGHE

Introduction by Max Gerreyn

Although I did  personally meet with him  only briefly and sporadically  I  became well acquainted with his sterling qualities as a true gentleman, scholar and  talented and skilled artist/painter.. I readily endorse and echo Mahinda Wijesinghe’s summing up of Stanley as  a `gentleman and artist par excellence. and  wish to  add  my tuppence  of the estimate in which I held Stanley – He transcended  excellence . He was the Epitome of the Best in a Human…. Max Gerreyn

Stanley Kirinde: The gentle and cultured artist – MAHINDA WIJESINGHE

Photo Source: Serendib Art

Most would wonder who Sarathchandra Madduma Bandara Wickremasinha Kirinde (1930 – 2009) was, however the name Stanley Kirinde, locally and/or internationally is synonymous with the world of art.

Just as the Latin expression, Ars Gratia Artis – “Art for art’s sake” – is used as a motto by the US film company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and appears in the circle around the head of a roaring lion in its motion picture logo, Stanley Kirinde used his easel and brush for art’s sake but unlike the lion he never roared.

He was gentle as a lamb, and a cultured one at that. Stanley’s seventh death anniversary fell recently.

Not possessing too much of an interest/knowledge in art and/or artists, I shall make known to the best of my ability and knowledge the impressions I have of Stanley the human being. Having closely associated with him for over a decade until he passed away, he was to my mind, the epitome of the sterling, worldly qualities a member of Homo sapiens could possess.

However, the technicalities in his field of art, and that of his contemporaries be it George Keyt, Harry Peiris, members of Group ‘43 or Lionel Wendt, I will leave it to the experts to explore.

It was a privilege and pleasure to know Stanley, his pleasant wife Iranganie (aka Ira), family of two sons Kumar (wife Chandani and grandsons Bhanuka and Rahel), and Ravi who is living in the UK.

Ira played the ideal role of Mother Hen to the artistic, sometimes borderline Bohemian life-style of Stanley. Of course not for him were late nights, nor were spirituous excesses his wont.

However, life was centered on his almost 24/7 love for painting. So naturally there was chaos, with newspapers, books, unfinished canvases, and paints etc., strewn around the house. Hence Ira had to keep a constant vigil and an almost maternal care over her husband regarding worldly affairs and his health. Stanley would have been lost without her and indeed it was a symbiotic association between the two of them.

Gradually it dawned on me – who had no clue of the art world – that Stanley is a legend with the easel and brush. Indeed he had made a name for himself in his chosen field from the tender age of 15 years when he bagged the first prize at the All-Ceylon Education Exhibition conducted in 1945. Then the floodgates opened until his peaceful demise at the age of almost four score years.

Today, his works of art have been commissioned by Presidents of two countries. Stanley was requested by the President of India, K.R. Narayanan to paint his official portrait which now hangs alongside previous Presidents of India at the Rashatrapati Bhawan, India’s official Presidential residence. It was a signal honour for a Sri Lankan. Sri Lanka’s first President, J.R.Jayewardene, on more than one occasion requested Stanley to paint past historical events of our country, one of which now hangs at the President’s House in Kandy.

Born in the village of Deegala, in the Dumbara Valley as the eldest in a family of seven boys and a girl, Stanley actually started sketching from the tender age of around four years. Pieces of paper, walls, floors and any surface that took his fancy were not spared. A piece of chalk he carried in his pair of shorts much to the chagrin of his family, especially of his sister, was his constant companion.

Even her text-books were Stanley’s drawing books! However, being the eldest he was the apple of the parents’ eyes, and escaped being reprimanded for his antics, and which habit he continued until practically he drew his last breath. As Stanley once commented about his mother’s attitude towards him: “She always thought I was a bit queer and would say “it’s the vapours from the paints makes you do all those funny things!”

Believe it or not, Stanley hated going to school. Reportedly he used to hide under beds to avoid his problem. Eventually he was forced to attend Trinity College at the age of nine. I can actually picture him as Shakespeare described in the Seven Ages of Man: “……..Then the whining schoolboy with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail unwilling to school.”

Yet, he made the necessary effort to enter the University of Peradeniya, barely aged 20, to read for an honours degree in History. Of course he had illustrious contemporaries at Trinity, including Lakshman Kadirgamar, who must have been an inspiration to Stanley, and they remained very close and life-long friends.

Stanley held many important and responsible posts in the government in the administrative service, and as expected, performed his duties with integrity, honesty and skill. He was not only appointed as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defence in 1982, and a few years later held the office of State Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Shipping, and so on, until he retired from government service after a distinguished career of 35 years. Another feather on his cap was when Stanley played a key and a satisfying role in the establishment of the Kotelawala Defence Academy around the same time.

In the meantime his alma mater Trinity College was not forgotten. Many were the occasions he did his duty to Trinity whether touching up fading paintings in the College chapel or any other similar requests by the school. His paintings are commonplace in most government offices around the country. Indeed one of his oil paintings adorns the wall in the Cathedral of the Anglican Church at Bullers Road.

The tributes and accolades he has received from all and sundry in appreciation of his skill are too numerous to mention, that eventually culminated in his being awarded the title of Deshabandu by the then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. A colourful biography, titled The World of Stanley Kirinde by Dr. Sinhara Raja Tammita Delgoda was yet another tribute published during his lifetime when his friend Lakshman Kadirgamar played a pivotal role in its production and the distribution.

However all such honours lay lightly on his shoulders? That was Stanley – a gentleman and an artist par excellence.

May his travels in Samsara be short and comfortable?

MAHINDA WIJESINGHE