Things Fall Apart

a history of ideas - mainly my ideas

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Vintage Posters of Ceylon


Copyright: Deborah Philip 2012

There is a Vintage Postage Exhibition on at the Barefoot Gallery at the moment. The posters belong to the collection of Anura Saparamadu, who has also published a book titled "Vintage Posters of Ceylon" in 2011. I have no idea why he is selling off his collection but prices for the originals are fantastic as they range between Rs.95,000 - 110,000 or maybe even more. However copies are available at Rs.3000 and postcard size reproductions at Rs.350 each.

It's a fascinating collection which depicts how Sri Lanka was advertised in posters for tourists, when promoting films or even as a way of getting out a message on social order. I would also have liked to see some political posters but I don't think they had any on view at the exhibition.

Anyway if you are in the area it is well worth checking out. An ideal source for the history of material culture in 20th century Sri Lanka.

My favorite poster . Badly in need of more of these now although there generally is no room for people to move into when travelling by bus!
photo copyright: Deborah Philip 2012

Copyright: Deborah Philip 2012
A Poster within a Poster: Barefoot/Author remakes a poster to advertise the exhibition. Poster actually says  "Hagenbeck's Ceylon Thee "

copyright: Deborah Philip 2012

The best part is it did become a CLASSIC!

3 comments:

  1. Hi Deborah
    Nice to see you've written about my poster exhibition! However, the posters are not for sale. I have a few original hand painted Bollywood posters that are for sale but the Ceylon posters are not for sale. Thanks for featuring the exhibition in your blog.

    Anura Saparamadu

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Anura

    Your collection is superb and I loved the exhibition. Apologies about getting it wrong on the sale of the Ceylon originals. I'm glad to know your collection will not be broken up. Hope to see more of these classics on view in Colombo and if possible the rest of the country.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi,Deborah,
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    ReplyDelete

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