Blurred brush strokes

Interview with veteran cartoonist Bandula  Harischandra

The main reason Sri Lankan artists, painters or cartoonists don’t get their due place in society is because they don’t stand together, opined veteran artist Bandula Harischandra, one of the pioneer cartoon storytellers in the country, in an interview with The Nation. “It’s a shame as well as a great disadvantage that artistes of our country are reluctant to stand together. If they do, the situation would have been very different,” he added.

Bandula Harischandra was born on May 24, 1940 in Keselwatta, Panadura. He received his early education at Sri Jana Dharmaduta Vidyalaya, Keselwatta. He said that no one, including himself, was aware of the fact that he had a hidden talent for sketching. “At the school art class, I wasn’t considered a good painter until one of my teachers saw a portrait I did,” he recalled. One day in his classroom he drew the portrait of his school manager, whose picture was hung in the new school building. Harischandra just copied the image he saw during a class, which was not painting, by the way. His subject teacher noticed the distracted boy and checked his notebook to see what kept him so preoccupied. The teacher was surprised by what she saw and immediately took him to the principal, who was highly impressed by the drawing too. “If I didn’t draw the picture of the school manager on that day, I would never have become a professional artist. I would be someone else,” he said adding that this drawing was the turning point of his life. Harischandra was just 12 years old then.

The impressed principal saw potential in this young boy and introduced him to National Arts Front (Jathika Kala Peramuna)Treasurer HBP Jayawardane. The official was an eminent art teacher as well as a painter and a highly skilled sculptor. “My friend Lionel was also a talented sculptor. Both of us were given a letter to go and meet Jayawardane Master. We didn’t know what waited us, but anyway we followed the principals’ orders,” Harischandra recalled. Under, the guidance of Jayawardane Master both Bandula and Lionel studied drawing, painting, pottery painting and sculpture.

“He helped me immensely to hone my skills. He was happy about my work and eventually offered me a class to teach, which I was very happy to take up,” Harischandra reminisced. He also mentioned how he held a successful art exhibition with his friend Lionel.

Day by day the number of students grew and eventually it was proposed that they move the class to Panadura Town, to a more spacious location. They moved the class to a building near the Panadura Hospital and formed the art institute, ‘Panadura Lalitha Kalayathanaya’, in 1959. “Music classes were conducted by Mudunkotuwa Master and dance classes by Ms. Miranda Hemalatha. It was a successful institute,” he said. Later, another art teacher joined him to conduct classes as the number of students was too much for him to handle by himself. This turned out to be Henry Tennakoon, who was the creator of Samaja Samayang, the famed cartoon strip published in Lankadeepa.

Tennakoon encouraged Harischandra to draw cartoon strips and coaxed him into joining Lake House. He introduced Harischandra to MA de Silva, then Dinamina Editor. This meeting resulted in Harischandra joining Lake House to do a series of picture stories based on Jathaka Stories. Later the stories he drew for Dinamina, Silumina, Navayugaya and Sathuta became extremely popular among the readers. So far he has created over 170 local and foreign picture story books including 12 stories created on his own. Bandula became the first artist to do picture stories in color. His story Nala Damayanthie published in Silumina is considered to be the first color printed cartoon story.

Among his most popular picture stories are Nala Damayanthie, Rahas Hasna, Sinbad, Helen, Thani Tharuwa, Veediya Bandara, Dewasmitha, Pandukabaya and Sinhala Deshaya. Later he followed a two-year course in painting at the Sri Lanka Jathika Kalayathanaya (Hewood) and obtained an Advanced Diploma in Art. He has submitted many articles to various newspapers and published a book on art titled Deepa. He has also served as the chief artist and manager for Camillus Publications.

He is also reputed for his paintings for UNESCO posters, leaflets and books. The reputation he earned in creating book covers is also renowned. He has also contributed in creating a number of Sri Lankan stamps. He has worked with the Sri Lanka Philatelic Bureau for over 25 years. Harischandra is also an artist who contributes to painting Vesak lanterns. “I have also completed drawings in Kaluadamulla Viharaya in Ambalangoda and currently completing the drawings of Borella Sri Lankaramaya,” said Harischandra.

He pointed out that there were several reasons behind the downfall of Sri Lankan picture story industry. According to him, contrary to popular belief, emergence of the television is not the main reason. “Once these stories started becoming popular among the readers, people started establishing more picture story papers. Competition was high and some reputed artists kept switching from paper to paper following the highest bid for their work,” he said. Harischandra added that this led to confusions in the readers that they no longer knew which paper to read. “Some stories were halted in the middle; some were continued in other papers. Eventually the readers got frustrated,” he emphasized.

Harischandra expressed his grief saying that the National Art Gallery is abandoned without anyone reaping benefits. “When we were young there were many exhibitions at the Kalabawana. We used to go whenever there was an exhibition. Today it’s literally abandoned,” he lamented. “The art exhibitions currently held there don’t make sense to the ordinary people sometimes,” he said adding that modern art is not something everyone can enjoy at the same level.

“I’m not saying that modern art is hopeless. It is a good form of art. Yet, it fails to speak to the hearts of the local people. Not everyone enjoys a few brush strokes on a canvas,” he iterated. “If they can exhibit local paintings or traditional art once in a while, it would attract a larger audience,” he said.

He also said that enthusiasm for art and painting dropped because of lack of awareness. As he explained, authorities who are supposed to support artistes overlook the painters. “They only concentrate on performing arts like dance, music or acting. Painting is not given its due place. It is as if they don’t consider painting an art form,” he said.

He reiterated that this lack of importance bestowed on artists is a setback in tourism. “Although we don’t have a habit of buying paintings, it can be sold more easily than other forms of arts to foreigners,” Harischandra pointed out. “Yet no one is willing to promote this aspect of art,” he added.

As mentioned before, Harischandra believes that these drawbacks can also be reduced if the artists stood together. He explained that they tried to do just this once by forming the Lanka Kala Sangamaya. Exhibitions held and the programs conducted by this association were highly successful, he said. “Yet unfortunately, the enthusiasm could not be maintained,” he said. “If a program can be formed and maintained for the development of the artists, I believe that it will promote Sri Lankan art and artistes better,” he said.

Pics by Chandana Wijesinghe