{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1351562"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1351562/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PM6338/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PM6338/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2026PM6338","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2022NC5555","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1351562/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1351562","accessionNumber":"IS.73-2016","objectType":"Painting","titles":[{"title":"Compositional Townscap","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"At the base of the image is a sprawling cityscape and above it a dynamic sky with abstract forms floating within it. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Lancelot Ribeiro","id":"AUTH339627"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"card","id":"x30344"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Watercolour","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour, ink, metallic pen and varnish on laminated card","categories":[{"text":"Cityscapes","id":"THES394418"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2026PM6338","2022NC5555"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES406606"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Painting","id":"x30598"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1987","earliest":"1987-01-01","latest":"1987-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Marsha Ribeiro","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"22.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"15","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"35","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"height of the frame","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"27","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"width of the frame","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Ribeiro turned to watercolour painting in the early seventies, naturalistic landscapes which were, he explained, inspired by ‘North England & European’ scenery. \n\nAround the time of this compositional piece, Ribeiro confided in a letter to friend and patron, Professor Patrick Boylan, that he initially did not attach much importance to his watercolours but, unlike his other work, they ‘gave me a lot of joy, were extremely relaxing and perhaps levitational.’  \n\r\nGradually, he introduced increasing notes of abstraction into these multi-dimensional pieces which he grouped under the heading of ‘Compositional two-plane and structural landscapes.’ These works emerged when he started utilising his old laminated exhibition catalogues which, he found, acted as an ideal base to combine watercolours, pen, metallic inks and a varnish finish to enhance their luminosity.\n\r\nCityscapes were reduced to the base of the image with the focus being the depiction of skies, lit by a pulsating sun or moon. Stratifying forms cutting across a dynamic sky, were reminiscent of the same forms that appeared in his large geologically-inspired paintings of the seventies.\r\n\r\nThis compositional townscape was reproduced on the front cover of the catalogue Restless Ribeiro (2013) and on page 75. \n\nIt was also reproduced in Lancelot Ribeiro: An artist in India and Europe by David Buckman (2014) on page 126.\n\r\nIt was exhibited at the Restless Ribeiro exhibition at Asia House in 2013 and the V&A’s Evening event Ribeiro – A Celebration of Life, Love and Passion on 17th March 2017, as part of the 2016/17 Heritage Lottery Funded Retracing Ribeiro project.\r\n","historicalContext":"Lancelot Ribeiro (1933-2010) was born in Bombay to a Roman Catholic family from Goa. He came to London in 1950 and trained at St Martins School of Art before returning to Bombay. He began painting professionally in 1958 and had his first solo exhibition in Bombay in 1961 which launched his career. In 1962 he moved back to London permanently.\r\n\nHis early work ranged from expressionistic visions of homeland to portraits drawn from the Christian tradition and depictions of ‘Heads’ embodying tyranny and power. His few surrealist drawings were an important aspect of his practice and emerged at a time he was producing wide-ranging pieces across different media. His watercolours were an understudied part of his oeuvre and evolved from naturalistic depictions of landscape in the early 1970s to compositional studies in abstraction a decade later. He then moved into large-scale expressionistic paintings of figures with political or religious undertones, much like his earlier work.\n\r\nRibeiro co-founded the Indian Painters Collective (IPC) in 1963, which spearheaded a movement advocating for the recognition of artists from the Subcontinent within Britain’s art establishment. The IPC was the first body of its kind outside India and the first to stage an exhibition of Indian artists in Britain, eventually becoming the Indian Artists UK (IAUK). \n\r\nRibeiro’s pioneering experimentation with polyvinyl acetate (PVA) earned him the reputation of the ‘godfather of generations of artists using acrylics’ (The Times, 2011). His artistic practice remained innately experimental in his use of materials, subject, style and form and reflected his lifelong philosophy, ‘I could go on endlessly to produce painting after painting – interesting perhaps – but somewhat meaningless and self-plagiarising.’ \r\n","briefDescription":"Painting, untitled (Compositional Townscape), by Lancelot Ribeiro, watercolour, ink, metallic pen and varnish on laminated card, London, 1987","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["IS.73-2016"],"accessionNumberNum":"73","accessionNumberPrefix":"IS","accessionYear":2016,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-16","recordCreationDate":"2016-05-05","availableToBook":true}}