Ravi Varma was born in 1848 at Kilimanoor palace in the princely state of Travancore, into a family related to the royal house. As a boy he drew on the palace walls with charcoal, and his uncle, a painter, trained him. Taken to the court at Thiruvananthapuram, he studied the royal collection and is said to have watched the Dutch portrait painter Theodor Jensen at work, teaching himself the technique of oil painting.
His aim was to show the heroines of the epics and the Puranas as living women whom ordinary people could recognise.His aim, as described by his biographers
He became the first Indian painter to master European oil and realism while choosing Indian subjects.
Gods and heroines
Ravi Varma painted scenes from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the works of Kalidasa: Shakuntala looking back as if to remove a thorn, Hamsa-Damayanti confiding in the swan, Shantanu and Matsyagandha, Lady with a Fruit, the Galaxy of Musicians. He also painted many portraits of Indian royalty and British officials. A painting won a prize at the Vienna exhibition of 1873, and he travelled across India looking at clothes, faces and landscapes for his work.
The press
In 1894 he set up a lithographic press at Ghatkopar in Bombay, later moved to Malavli near Lonavala, to print cheap coloured copies — oleographs — of his paintings. For the first time ordinary families could hang a picture of Lakshmi, Saraswati, Krishna or Rama in their homes. His images shaped calendar art, film and comics for a century.
Praise and criticism
Ravi Varma was hugely popular in his lifetime and was awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind medal in 1904. Later critics, including nationalist artists of the Bengal school, faulted him for European realism and theatrical style. Today he is seen as a bridge between traditional Indian painting and modern art.
How they are remembered
Kerala gives the Raja Ravi Varma Puraskaram as its highest award for art, and his paintings fetch record prices at auction. The faces of Hindu gods in most homes and temples still follow his models.
Ekatmata Stotra · Stanza 20
Named in Stanza 20 of the Ekatmata Stotra — the painters who made the gods visible.
रवि-वर्मा च भाग्यचन्द्रः चित्रकारौ प्रसिद्धौ।
येषां तूलिकया सन्धीयते देव-सन्निधौ नरः॥
Sources: Wikipedia: Raja Ravi Varma · Wikipedia: Ravi Varma Press. Written afresh for The Hindu Book; corrections welcome at [email protected].
