Extract from “Masterpieces from the National Art Gallery of Malaysia”
《Portrait of My Wife In Her Wedding Dress》
74cm x 48cm Oil on canvas 1933
Born: 1893
Education: 1912 — Academie Gereux, Paris
O.Don Peris was a pioneer Malaysian artist and he had arrived in British Malaya, as an immigrant from Sri Lanka, in 1920. He had been trained earlier in the academic mode of painting at the Academy Geroux in Paris. His son, 0. Don Eric Peris, is the well-known Malaysian photographer.
This pre-War portrait of the artist’s wife, rendered in the academic naturalistic mode, is interesting for a number of reasons. It would seem that this painted image may have been derived from a black and white photograph that had been originally taken in a photographer’s studio to commemorate the wedding. The stiff background props noticeable are more akin to those painted props used in the pre-War photographers’ studios. The artist may have transferred this image onto his canvas and then reworked on it, incorporating the colours, tonalities and textures. The actual image of his wife is nevertheless interesting in that it reflects the kind of fashion tastes that had prevailed among the educated class in British Malaya during that time. The artist belonged to the small Sinhalese community that was, like the Eurasian community of that period, heavily influenced by Western cultural values and fashion tastes.
His wife is depicted standing and is dressed in a white, delicately laced Western bridal costume. She holds a bouquet in her hands and stares at the viewer. The influence of the Western hair style is also interesting. These new hair styles were often based on the hair styles of the famous film actresses of the early Hollywood silent films that had already arrived here.
The artist’s training in the academic mode of painting, linked to the more traditional French academies, explains the treatment of the work and its tonal colour scheme. This portrait of the artist’s wife is infused with a notion of pomp and grandeur, that one usually associates with the making of official academic portraits of the European royalty and the upper classes. Pens had given his young bride a touch of class.
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