Tambimuttu: Re-Inventing the Art of Poetry Illustration

Abstract

M. J. T. Tambimuttu, the much maligned Ceylonese editor of Poetry London and Editions Poetry London, was in fact consistently admired at home and abroad during the Second World War. Both his periodical and books were held in high esteem by his peers for their aesthetic innovations: his judicious commissions enabled him to assemble poets and artists to their mutual advantage and satisfaction. His dream of unity among the arts, however, did not survive postwar economic requirements.