Lionel de Fonseka – De La Verite Dans L’art

DE LA VERITE DANS L’ART
DIALOGUE ENTRE UN ORIENTAL ET UN OCCIDENTAL
Lionel de Fonseka Varnasuriya
Publications Chitra
C.A. Hogman, Editeur 
Copyrights by Editions CHITRA, Paris, 1930 

This book, written entirely in French by Lionel was translated and published as ‘The Truth of Decorative Art’ and discusses the western influence on the arts and people of Ceylon

DE LA VERITE DANS L’ART is the first book to be written entirely in French  by Lionel de Fonseka, scholar and author of ‘The Karava Flag’. The book discusses art and influence on life life, and very specially it’s effect on the people of Ceylon during a time of unceasing western influence. The book has been subsequently translated into English and published by A. C. Fifield in 1913 and Henry Holt and Company in New York around 1914, as ‘On the Truth of Decorative Art‘. 

In it’s presentation, the book conducts a dialog based on the Oriental and Occidental views. (Occidental: meaning a member of one of the occidental peoples; especially  a person of European ancestry). 

The book is dedicated in respect and affection to Simon Richard de Fonseka Warnesuriya Wijetunge Samaranayake, Mudaliyar of the Gate, and Mudaliyar of Salpiti Korale, Ceylon. Lionel was the son of Mudaliyar Simon Richard de Fonseka and wrote this book after his years at Oxford, England.  After his studies he lived and worked in France and Belgium for over 10 years. A few years later he wrote his second book in French, called ‘Les Eaux de Lumier‘, about the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three little children in Fatima, Portugal.

In the preface to the book Lionel discusses the following;

This dialogue is written primarily for the people of Ceylon. Sinhalese art has hitherto been strictly decorative; and as a Singhalese I view with regret the modern tendency in Ceylon, under Western influences, to abandon our traditions in art and in life. It seems to me that Eastern peoples need to realize at the least that art, education, civilization, admit of a plural; also that what is fortuitously predominant is not necessarily intrinsically excellent. It is regrettable that the rise of Western commerce should involve the decline of Eastern art; but though regrettable, it is not inevitable.

I would remind the Singhalese people of the best traditions of our art by calling to mind a work of our King, Detu Tissa, an artist of the 4th century, who in the words of the Mahawamsa, “was a skilful carver, who executed many arduous undertakings in painting, and taught it to his subjects. He modeled a statue of Buddha so exquisitely that he seemed to have been inspired; and for it he made an altar, and gilt an edifice inlaid with ivory.”

His wish may have come true, as the book has been received positively in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and influenced many artist of that time who were trying to break free of the western influences and find a style of their own. The following account is found in a book by Neville Weereratne on ‘The Art of Richard Gabriel’ (page 46). He quotes S P Amerasingham. 

Gabriel’s work was sought after by discerning critics like Lionel de Fonseka whose book “On the Truth of Decorative Art ” is held to be a classic of it’s kind , influencing Ananda Coomaraswamy, Romain Rolland and Eric Gill in their time. De Fonseka had two Gabriels in his collection, ‘Virgin & child’ and a narrative painting called ‘St Francis and the poor man’.

Neville Weeraratne, renowned artist now settled in Australia recalls the days he used to meet Lionel, and gives us an ‘insight ‘ as to why he wrote this book. Writing specially to this web site thru his friend Dr. Srilal Fernando in Australia, Neville recalls this great man; 

Yes, I knew Lionel de Fonseka. I don’t know too much about him except that he wrote the ‘Dialogue’, which was highly regarded by many intellectuals of the time. According to his nephew Errol de Fonseka, Lionel wrote this book primarily to satisfy his father, that he was using his time at Oxford to good purpose. Lionel was more proud of a piece which was published by the “Punch” magazine, but I have not seen it. Lionel also wrote a weekly column for the Ceylon Catholic Messenger which, I recall, was very well received.

Lionel was an articulate defender of the Church and had many original ideas on subjects that were at one time dismissed as unworthy of good Catholics. For instance, he believed in Astronomy as a science and quoted the use of astronomical signs and myth quite seriously to show that there was more to it than superstition, the Bible being one of his principal sources. 

He also condemned Acting, as a denial of self, of the God-given personality which it was our business to protect and nurture. By taking on other personalities, an actor was eroding his own. Apart from that, I used to meet him at his home down De Fonseka Place, where he entertained me in his vast upstairs library.

A review of the book was published in the RHYTHM magazine No IX, October 1912. Rhythm was a literary, arts, and critical review magazine published in London, England, from 1911 to 1913 and counted D.H. Lawrence, Frank Harris, Walter de la Mare etc. as key contributors. The Book Review written by John Middleton Murry an English writer, throws an interesting summary of the book , that the issues raised by this book are profound and the contribution to the aesthetics are many. This thought is echoed by many, including artists based in Ceylon.

The full review is reproduced below.

This is in many ways an interesting and stimulating book. It is a challenge to the ideals and practice of Western art by the East. “In the West, expression is held to be the function of art. In the East we believe that the end of art is decoration.” The author is sometimes at the mercy of a phrase. Granted that the bias of Eastern art is towards “decoration,” and that of the Western towards personal expression, it is a serious mistake to substitute, if only in thought, “pure expression” and “pure decoration” for the unqualified terms. All that is best in all art aims at a combination of both these elements. Sometimes the balance has swayed to one side or the other. The art of the West is by nature more personal than the art of the East, which is national. But even in the case of Egyptian art and literature, where the extreme of absolute impersonality was reached, it is impossible to deny the presence of individuality. In the recently published Mahavamsa of Mr de Fonseka’s own country, Ceylon, there are evident to the critic undeniable traces of a marked personality. It is impossible to distinguish expression from decoration as absolutely as the writer would maintain. Whether the personal bias of Western art is a pis-aller is a more difficult question, and one which seems impossible of solution. The undoubted fact is that modern movements in the plastic arts tend more and more towards the “decorative.” Modern art consciously emphasizes rhythm of a sweeping and salient nature; and for this reason it is often, and wrongly, charged with being essentially a retrograde movement. Among many really penetrating apercus on modern art and literature, the writer makes a very grave blunder in failing to see that “Post-Impressionist Art ” is in some sense a return to the decorative tradition of the East. And even if Mr. de Fonseka failed to perceive this somewhat obvious fact, he should at least have taken care to avoid the pseudo-medical abuse of the Nordau school.

The truth is that the dispute admits of no solution. The artistic differences of East and West cannot be composed by a dialogue. Western civilization is based upon a philosophy of individual effort (for which the Northern climate may ultimately be responsible), the civilization of the East upon a philosophy of quietism. There is truth in either camp, and even though to strike a balance be difficult, it is in that way that the greatest creation lies. There has been far too much contempt for form in the West of recent years; but that is better than to be shackled by the conventions of the East when they are grown sterile. Yet although we may quarrel with Mr. de Fonseka’s intransigeance in contempt for the West, it is incumbent upon us to acknowledge that the issues raised by this book are profound; and though we question whether the dialogue form adopted is really adequate, we are glad that we have to reckon with a really serious contribution to aesthetics, only slightly less valuable than Mr. Binyon’s “Flight of the Dragon.” J.M.M.

Another review of the book as found pasted on the inner cover of the authors copy, is reproduced below. Possibly from a magazine called Washington Review.

“On the Truth of Decorative Art,” by Mr. Lionel de Fonseka, is a highly polished and scholarly dialogue between an Oriental and an Occidental. The author, who is a Sinhalese, makes no secret of his regret at the modem tendency in Ceylon to abandon, under Western influences, native traditions in arts and in life. These traditions go back to a respectable antiquity, for, in the fourth century, there is a record that Detu Tissa, King of Ceylon, “was a skilled carver, who executed many arduous undertakings in painting, and taught it to his subjects.” Mr. Lionel de Fonseca pleads eloquently for decorative art, which is conventional. The following quotations will serve to illustrate his attitude. “Cromwell and his Roundheads were, in truth, more courtly and regal after the Aurelian fashion, than Charles and his courtly Cavaliers. The Puritans were men of rare preciosity”. Here the author strangely overlooks the iconoclasm which disgraced these rebels. Again, “hieratic art is the only democratic art. It was, no doubt, mainly for this reason that Plato, in the ” Laws,” expressed his admiration for the stationary and hieratic character of Egyptian art. The art of Egypt was understood by the people of Egypt, whereas your art is understood by few beside the artists. The elect among you wear the orchids of art”. In another place, Mr. de Fonseka defends surely unconsciously, the contention of the Realistic School. “Art ceases to be true to life if it ignores the facts of life. If our art includes the ugly, it is because our art takes all life for its province”. The book is rather stimulative than convincing.
“On the Truth of Decorative Art.” By Lionel de Fonseka, London: Greening and Co.

Other Reviews:

Another review can be found in The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 24, No. 128, Nov., 1913 – On the Truth of Decorative Art by Lionel de Fonseka (pp. 116-117) Review by: H. H. C.