Tradition, Modernity and Identity in the 20th Century. George Keyt and Geoffrey Bawa

One of these figures was the architect Geoffrey Bawa (1919-2003), now regarded as one of the most important and influential Asian architects of the 20th century. Known as the leader of the Tropical Modernist movement, Bawa combined a deep understanding of European style and modernity with the Sri Lankan heritage. Inspired by a tremendous feeling for the environment and landscape of Sri Lanka, his buildings are at one with the land. At his home at Lunuganga, Bawa created a European renaissance garden in the tropics, a landscape dominated by sweeping views. His most famous work however, is perhaps the iconic Kandalama hotel, a seamless blend of interior with exterior, of rock, forest and water with stone, steel and concrete.

The painter George Keyt (1901-1993) is perhaps the best example of this embodiment of tradition, modernity and identity. Fusing the influences of Modernism and Cubism with his own unique idiom, Keyt became one of the great figures of Asian Modernism. Steeping himself in the art and culture of Sri Lanka's ancient Buddhist civilization, Keyt combined this with a deep and powerful attraction to the Indian classical tradition. Assimilating, absorbing and combining these traditions with the experimentation and innovation of European Modernism., he created a new artistic vocabulary of his very own, one which epitomized the synthesis of East and West.