Collection Online as of June 5, 2023
The Paranirvana of Buddha, Gal Vihara, Polonnaruva, Ceylon
Joseph Lawton
(British, d. 1874)
Albumen print
Image: 21.4 x 28.2 cm (8 7/16 x 11 1/8 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.)
Gift of Louise S. Richards 1976.156
Location
not on view
Description
During the British colonial period in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), a 12th-century monastic establishment with a colossal stone sculpture of the reclining Buddha had fallen into ruins. The photographer’s intentional inclusion of a Sri Lankan man, leaning against a pillar at the front of the composition, and a colonial Englishman, clambering over Buddha’s body, underscores how differently they interact with the site. The Sri Lankan visitor views the ruins with devotional reverence; the Englishman treats it as a place of adventurous entertainment.
Joseph Lawton
Joseph Lawton British, d. 1874 In the 1860s Joseph Lawton immigrated to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), opening a studio at Kandy in 1866. His most important known work is a series of views of ancient ruins in Ceylon, commissioned in 1870-71, that accompanied a survey by the Committee of Ancient Architecture. Lawton's death in 1874 was attributed to health problems contracted during this work. His widow continued to operate the firm of J. Lawton and Co., listed as photographers to the Duke of Edinburgh, until it closed in 1881. T.W.F.