A Man in between: Re-locating David Paynter in-between Paynter Home and Orphan Boys

Abstract

This study focuses on aesthetic reaction of David Paynter's art, relating to the depiction of male body. David Paynter was a Sri Lankan prominent painter who lived in from 1900 to 1975 and became a world recognized painter in the twentieth century. He did paintings entitled Four Boys (plate 28), Two Fishermen (plate 26), The Spear-Fisherman (plate 31) and The Offering (plate 30) at the Paynter Home. Their body complexions depict Burgher features a very fair complexion and, they were orphans from the Paynter home. As he painted orphan boys as his sitters for those paintings, sooner or later, these boys became one of his major interests in his art practice. It re-locates Paynter in the engagement of the Paynter Home understanding the cultural and political affairs in a certain criteria. Therefore, this paper connects to the missionary education which maintained these bodies as docile bodies in the domestic space. This study also examines the aesthetic reaction of David Paynter's art associated to the depiction of male body; it points out most important crucial remarks making links between the male body and its representation.