Raja Ravi Verma

1 Artworks

RAJA RAVI VERMA (1848 -1906) Born in Kilimanoor, Kerala, he was educated at home and received his first painting lesson from his uncle Raja Raja Varma, although on the whole he was self-taught. In 1873, he submitted two paintings to the Fine Arts Exhibition in Madras and won the Governor's Gold Medal for Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair. The subjects of his paintings were often drawn from the Indian epics and his works are said to have influenced the popular Indian Bollywood film industry much as Victorian art inspired some Hollywood directors. He has been credited as being the first Indian artist to apply the traditions of Western realistic art to the representations of Indian mythology. He was also a well-known portraitist and received commissions from a number of princely families as well as Europeans living in India. His works are part of the collections of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, the Sri Chitra Art Gallery, Thiruvananthapuram and the Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai. The New Perspectives exhibition at the National Museum, New Delhi (1993) displayed a large number of his paintings, drawings, watercolours and oleographs. He was the first Indian artist to apply traditions of Western academic realism to the representation of traditional Indian literature, mythology and indeed, to the conceptual groundings of Indian classical dance as evidenced in the poses of many of his subjects...From the Bowring's Catalogue. RAJA RAVI VARMA " He is the landmark of a great opportunity not wholly missed, but ill availed. Theatrical conceptions want of imagination and lack of Indian feeling in the treatment of sacred and epic subjects are Ravi Verma's fatal faults"....A. K. Cormanswamy, 1993. STATEMENT: Raja Ravi Varma's paintings emulated the Western style and his works received appreciation from the ruling British elite. But employed the western mode of depiction, but also portrayed scenes and anecdotes from popular Indian mythology with Indian Goddesses appearing like human rather than supernatural beings. Ravi Varma's greatest achievement lay in his breaking into the European bastion in the newly activated world of Indian art. The Indian elite and intellectuals perceived the Ravi Varma as a champion of authentic Indian art. Raja Ravi Varma's oleographs on the same topics and themes as his paintings ensured that his works reached every home as they combined religious fervor with a feeling for art. Even today, many of his litho-prints of Hindu deities occupy a place of pride in older homes, in private shrines and puja rooms.... Ranjitsingh Gaekwad, Chairman. The Gaekwad - Raja Ravi Varma Collection Centenary Celebration Committee.