“RAJA RAVI VARMA”
“PRINCE AMONG PAINTERS”
1848 -1906
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“RAJA RAVI VARMA”
Born 1848
in Kilimanoor - Kerala
“RAJA RAVI VARMA”
Died
2 nd October -1906
in Kilimanoor - Kerala
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“RAJA RAVI VARMA”
Belonged to the
Royal Family of Travancore,
Kerala
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“RAJA RAVI VARMA”
“THE PAINTER PRINCE”
1848 -1906
“RAJA RAVI VARMA”
A Prince among Painters
A Painter among Princes
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“RAJA RAVI VARMA”
GREATEST ARTIST
OF
MODERN INDIA
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“RAJA RAVI VARMA” KAISER – I – HIND -1904
Brought Indian Paintings to the attention of the World.
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“RAJA RAVI VARMA”
EPOCH 1870 – 1906
FATHER OF INDIAN ART
Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) was born in Kilimanoor Palace – Kerala as the son of Umamba Thampuratti and Neelakandan Bhattathiripad.
At the age of seven years he started drawing on the palace walls using charcoal.
His uncle Raja Raja Varma noticed the talent of the child and gave preliminary lessons on painting.
At the age of 14, Ayilyam Thirunal Maharaja took him to Travancore Palace and he was taught water painting by the palace painter Rama Swamy Naidu.
After 3 years Theodor Jenson, a British painter taught him oil painting.
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“RAJA RAVI VARMA”
- 1 st to use Oil on Canvas 1 st to Install Colour Printing Press 1 st to use Oil as Printing Media 1 st to produce Oliographs 1 st to copy his paintings for mass circulation 1 st use Art for National Integration 1 st to get International Award at Chicago
- 1 ST To be Awarded KAISER-I-HIND
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"RAJA RAVI VERMA"
Original Paintings are Exhibited in
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Kudiar, Palace Museum Thiruvananthapuram
Pattom, Palace Museum Thiruvananthapuram
Ranga Vilas Palace Museum Thiruvananthapuram
Chitrashala Art Gallery Museum Thiruvananthapuram
H.H. Maharaja University College ThiruvananathPuram
Maharaja Fatehsingh Museum Vadodara
Laxmi Vilas Palace Vadodara
The Residency Palace Pudukkottai Thanjavur
Government Museum Pudukkottai Thanjavur
Huzur Mahadi Palace Thanjavur
National Gallery of Modern Art New Delhi
Government Fort museum Chennai
Salarjung Museum Hydrabad
Madhavan Nayar Foundation Kochi
Victoria Memorial Hall Kolkatta
Shree Bhavani Museum Aundh
Fateh Prakash Palace Udaipur
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Shiv Niwas Palace Udaipur
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“RAJA RAVI VARMA”
ASSOCIATION WITH BARODA
The Maharaja of Baroda invited Ravi Varma in 1881 to paint the portrait of Sayaji Rao III.
He was again invited in 1991 to paint 14 nos. paintings based on mythological epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana for which he was paid Rs. 50,000/- a princely sum in those days.
This amount of Rs. 50,000/- was ultimately used by him for importing ndia’s 1 st. Colour printing press from Germany, which was installed in Ghatkopar near Bombay to mass produce Oleographs of his paintings.
In his association and patronage of Baroda’s Gaekwad for the 10 years period from 1881 – 1891 he produced his most masterpieces for which he became known in his later paintings also, and was invited by many Maharajas of that period to do paintings of their Royal families.
It was from his paintings done for Baroda that his evolution into an academic painter which culminated into finest of his works.
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“RAJA RAVI VARMA”
Women in His Art
He chose women from all strata of Indian society and mythology, from all castes, creeds and regions to highlight the rich variety of the country and its traditions in dress and customs.
He projected heroines from Indian mythology as the central figures, most of them shown in dramatic moments of their lives and romances. His famous list is Sita, Damayanti, Ganga, Menaka, Saraswati, Laxami, Shakuntala, Kerala lady, Tamil lady, Street dancer, Gypsies, Milk Maid, Durga, Tara, Mohini, Tilottama,etc. When “RAJA RAVI VARMA” painted a sexy picture, he titled it “SHANTANU and GANGA” from the Mahabharata.
It still hangs in the Baroda Fatehsingh Museum, in which Ganga the bare breasted river maiden peeps out at us, large eyed and coyly.
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“ Kaiser-i-Hind” RAJA RAVI VARMA
British Government conferred the title of “ Kaiser-i-Hind” upon Ravi Varma in 1904.
This award inadvertently inscribed “Raja Ravi Varma” instead of “Ravi Varma”, and was instrumental in changing the name of the artist to “Raja Ravi Varma”. The Maharaja of Travancore, his uncle, wondered how one of his subject could become a Raja, and took up the matter with British Resident. But the name stuck for ever now. “RAJA RAVI VARMA” is considered a "Modern among Traditionists” and a “Traditionist among Moderns”.
He provides a vital link between Traditional Indian Art and the Contemporary First to depict Indian subjects in the western style using “OIL on CANVAS”.
“RAJA RAVI VARMA”
Rightly or wrongly is considered “ Father of Contemporary Art In India”
" The immediate appeal of his work has never been surpassed by any other artist till today”
“ The popular taste that Ravi Varma generated a century ago is still with us, perhaps to become an irrevocable part of our Heritage” ------------------ “Ravi Varma epoch from 1870 to 1906 till his death dominated the Indian Art scene like a Colossus.
There was no second to him”.
Ravi Varma did for Indian art what Sankracharya did for Indian Philosophy
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“RAJA RAVI VARMA”
He is credited for 2 inaugural trends in Modern Art History.
- Use of oil paint in paintings and oleographs
- Printing copies of his paintings as Oleographs for the masses.
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He became known as first "Calendar Artist” of India and started Mass printing of copies his paintings for public at large while his original Oil Paintings were being kept in Palaces.
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“RAJA RAVI VARMA”
It is rare to come across men like him, artist like him, lover of India like him… Dr. Abnindranath Tagore .
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“ Raja Ravi Varma Press”
at
GHATKOPAR & MALAVLI For Oleographs
When Ravi Varma’s paintings of Baroda’s assignment were exhibited in Bombay, with the permission of the Gaekwad, they produced quite a sensation.
It was for the first time that subjects from great epics were depicted on canvas so truthfully. Thousands of their photographs were sold all over India
The popularity of these pictures led to the idea of mass printing of his paintings in colour for the masses. By this Ravi Varma planned to create a love for the fine arts through religious and mythological subjects with which they were familiar. His success in this enterprise far exceeded his expectations.
On the advice of his friends Dada Bhai Navroji and Justice Ranade he accepted Shri Govardhan Das Khatau as partner in this venture and the press was established in Ghatkopar in Mumbai.
Later on it was shifted to Malavli near Pune.
His oleographs , depicting Hindu divinities devoid of multiple arms and heads looked like real people. These portrayals became immensely popular, specially were the images of Goddess Saraswat, Laxmi in particular received acceptance as the new iconographical types and all previous representations lost their appeal and before long faded from public memory.
His oleographs and later prints found honored place in cultural homes all over India.
Rabindranath Tagore wrote about this “ In my childhood, when Ravi Varma’s age arrived in Bengal, reproductions of European paintings on the walls were promptly replaced with Oleographs of his works.
Ravi Varma could not manage his press financially as he was not a businessman and on the advise of his friends like, he sold off the press to his German technician Schleizer in 1901 for Rs. 25,000/-.
The Ravi Varma Press in Malavli was destroyed in a fire later on and got closed.
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