Untitled

Credit line: On loan from Mathew Welch

George Keyt (b. 1901, Ceylon, Sri Lanka; d. 1939, Colombo, Sri Lanka) was a Sri Lankan artist and poet best known for his richly colored, Cubist-like figure paintings. Keyt's combination of Sri Lankan life, the calligraphic lines of Henri Matisse, and forms he found in ancient Buddhist and Hindu sculptures, produced a wholly unique style.

Born on April 17, 1901 in Ceylon, Sri Lanka, he studied at Trinity College in Kandy, where he was drawn to the Buddhist and Hindu ethos surrounding him. In 1939, he moved to India, where he absorbed himself in the local culture. After returning to Sri Lanka, Keyt helped form the Colombo '43 group, whose tenets attempted to merge trends in European Modern movements into their own cultural sphere. The group also included fellow Sri Lankan painters Ivan Peries and Harold Peiris. During the late 1980s, the artist and some of his admirers set up the George Keyt Foundation. The artist died on July 31, 1993 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.