{{Short description|Sri Lankan artist and poet (1909-1999)}} {{Use British English|date=September 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}} {{Infobox artist | name = George Claessen | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1909|5|5}} | birth_place = Colombo, Sri Lanka | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1999|5|1|1909|5|5}} | death_place = | field = Painting }} '''George Claessen''' (5 May 1909 – 1 May 1999) was a Sri Lankan artist and poet whose art was characterised by his mystical outlook and beliefs. He was a founding member of the Colombo '43 Group.
==Biography== Claessen was born in Colombo and was a largely self-taught artist who began to paint professionally when, aged 29, he joined the Colombo Port Commission as a draughtsman.<ref name="BuckmanVol1">{{cite book|author=David Buckman|publisher=Art Dictionaries Ltd|year=1998|title=Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 1, A to L |isbn=0-95326-095-X}}</ref> In 1943 Claessen was among the founding members of the Colombo '43 Group, who embraced modern European artistic forms over traditional Sri Lankan forms.<ref name=Weeraratne>{{cite web |author=Neville Weeraratne|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/jun/23/guardianobituaries3 |title=George Claessen |date=23 June 1999|access-date=11 September 2017|work=The Guardian}}</ref> During World War II the War Artists' Advisory Committee acquired a work by Claessen under a scheme for artworks by colonial artists. Claessen's painting was displayed at the National Gallery in London during 1945.<ref name=Colony>{{cite web |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1050000709|title=Scheme for War Pictures by Native-born Colonial artists |access-date=11 September 2017|work=Imperial War Museum}}</ref><ref name=Practice>{{cite web |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/5024 |title=ARP Practice: Dealing with Casualties |access-date=11 September 2017|work=Imperial War Museum}}</ref>
In 1947 Claessen had a solo show at the Velasquez Gallery in Melbourne by which point he was painting in a purely abstract manner.<ref name=Weeraratne/> Other solo shows, at the Archer Gallery in 1949 and in 1962 at the New Vision Centre in 1962, followed.<ref name="BuckmanVol1"/> Claessen exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1956 and at the 1959 Sao Paulo Biennale in 1959 where he won an award. Claessen exhibited in London several times and was a member of the Hampstead Artists Council and the Islington Art Circle.<ref name="BuckmanVol1"/> He also exhibited with the Royal Society of British Artists and the Society of Graphic Art.<ref name="GMWaters">{{cite book|author=Grant M. Waters|publisher=Eastbourne Fine Art|year=1975|title=Dictionary of British Artists Working 1900-1950}}</ref>
Throughout his life Claessen continued to work at the Colombo Port Commission until his retirement and also published several volumes of poetry. A memorial exhibition was held in 2000.<ref name="BuckmanVol1"/><ref name=Weeraratne/>
==Published works== * ''Poems of a Painter'' (1967) * ''Poems about Nothing'' (1981) * ''Collected Poems'' (1995)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Art UK bio}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Claessen, George}} Category:1909 births Category:1999 deaths Category:20th-century Sri Lankan painters Category:20th-century Sri Lankan poets Category:People from Colombo Category:World War II artists