Combinations of dedicated talents often create remarkable results, as the medical and art practises of Sir Roy Calne (1930 – 2024) amplify. Roy revelled in his art practise and through its wide reach, brought learnings, both technical and relational, that fortified connections to people and places.
My friendship with Roy Calne grew through a shared passion for Art. Although he had been a Fellow of my Cambridge college, Trinity Hall, it was only years after I left that I would meet him, and it was in Malaysia that my husband, Dennis, and I first connected with him. (He led a College visit there on behalf of Sir John Lyons in 1998, and we organised various events around that trip.) I had by that year effectively transitioned from Wall Street lawyer to cultural entrepreneur. Roy and I understood the rainbow of learnings that art and culture can bring, including about country and community. Roy and I were kindred spirits in this realm of discovery and we worked together on five exhibitions of his works over a span of twenty-five years, all of which brought added focus and applause for him as an artist.
Roy’s interest in painting began in his childhood, but it was the encounter with famed Scottish artist, John Bellany, that really advanced and activated his talent. Bellany was Calne’s transplant patient and became, in part through that intimate relationship of saving and caring, his artistic mentor. For the 6 weeks during Bellany’s recovery in hospital, the doctor and patient would often paint together and they would remain good friends until Bellany’s passing decades later.
After that intersection of brushes, Calne’s works developed a vivid confidence, including through better rationalised use of colour and strokes. Thus, the significance of that aesthetic encounter with Bellany went far beyond the initial pedagogical dynamic. The vividness that came from their friendship helped to build Calne’s own stylistic palette. We see in his works, from that time onwards, a more accentuated joy in the process of creating.
Calne’s subject matters were as diverse as his encounters. He painted gardens (his own being quite beautiful and offering source material), portraits of patients and friends, landscapes and still lifes. He painted wherever he went – and he went everywhere. He painted to connect to people. He drew to see more clearly and imaginatively.
Calne nurtured qualities of curiosity, celebration and fierce determination. He informed his greatness with constant self-challenge and a big dose of humility. Roy was ever ready to take on quality critique of his work and to respond with new ways of seeing. He was truly delighted to be appreciated as an Artist. In this way, Calne’s contribution to Medicine and his admirable inspiration to Art, should be seen as powerful inter-disciplinary constructs that informed and inspired not only Calne, but also the medical and creative communities.
Roy Calne, Artist and medical icon, leaves a legacy of many creative accolades: transplantation and cyclosporin; research and physical restoration; and so many memories of beauty and inspiration that live on through his works. Life may be short, but this art will live long.
Shalini Ganendra is a collector and scholar who has developed cultural connectivity through a diverse range of programmes, including scholarship, exhibitions and projects. In 2022, the Amerasinghe Ganendra Collection gifted works by Sir Roy Calne to the Addenbrookes Trust, which hang now in the Hospital’s Transplant Unit and remind all of Calne’s versatility and creative curiosity.
