Ananda Coomaraswamy

Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy
Coomaraswamy in 1916, photograph by Alvin Langdon Coburn
Born	(1877-08-22)22 August 1877 Colombo, British Ceylon
Died	9 September 1947(1947-09-09) (aged 70) Needham, Massachusetts, U.S.
Nationality	Sri Lankan American
Known for	Metaphysician, philosopher, historian
Spouse(s)	Ethel Mairet (m.1902–13) Alice Coomaraswamy (m.1913–22) Stella Bloch(m.1922–30) Luisa Runstein(m.1930–1947, his death)

Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (Tamil: ஆனந்த குமாரசுவாமி, Ānanda Kentiś Kumāraswāmī; 22 August 1877 − 9 September 1947) was a Ceylonese Tamil philosopher and metaphysician, as well as a pioneering historian and philosopher of Indian art, particularly art history and symbolism, and an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West. In particular, he is described as "the groundbreaking theorist who was largely responsible for introducing ancient Indian art to the West."

Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy was born in Colombo, Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, to the Ceylonese Tamil legislator and philosopher Sir Muthu Coomaraswamy of the aristocratic Vellalar Ponnambalam-Coomaraswamy family and his English wife Elizabeth Beeby. His father died when Ananda was two years old, and Ananda spent much of his childhood and education abroad.

Coomaraswamy moved to England in 1879 and attended Wycliffe College, a preparatory school in Stroud, Gloucestershire, at the age of twelve. In 1900, he graduated from University College, London, with a degree in geology and botany. On 19 June 1902, Coomaraswamy married Ethel Mary Partridge, an English photographer, who then traveled with him to Ceylon. Their marriage lasted until 1913. Coomaraswamy's field work between 1902 and 1906 earned him a doctor of science for his study of Ceylonese mineralogy, and prompted the formation of the Geological Survey of Ceylon which he initially directed. While in Ceylon, the couple collaborated on Mediaeval Sinhalese Art; Coomaraswamy wrote the text and Ethel provided the photographs. His work in Ceylon fueled Coomaraswamy's anti-Westernization sentiments. After their divorce, Partridge returned to England, where she became a famous weaver and later married the writer Philip Mairet.