In , he established a colour Oleographic Press in Mumbai and started printing affordable copies of his paintings. He had to close down the press when plague broke out in Mumbai and Pune in Finally, on January 21, he had to sell off the press and the publishing rights of more than eighty of his paintings at a low price.
The Maharajas of India and the British authorities were all very eager to have Ravi Varma paint for them. Among these, the portrait of Maharana Prathap is a masterpiece. In , Ravi Varma was given the responsibility of painting the portrait of the then British governor, Arthur Havlock. Towards the end of his life, he returned to Kilimanoor and immersed himself in a highly productive creative life.
This Lord of Painting passed away on October 2, These are also part of the collections at the National Gallery of Modern Art and other museums. Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala. English Malayalam French Hindi. Powered by Invis Multimedia. Additionally, he was notable for making affordable lithographs of his paintings available to the public, which greatly enhanced his reach and influence as a painter and public figure.
His lithographs increased the involvement of common people with fine arts and defined artistic tastes among common people. Furthermore, his religious depictions of Hindu deities and works from Indian epic poetry and Puranas have received profound acclaim.
He was part of the royal family of erstwhile Parappanad, Malappuram district. Raja Ravi Varma was closely related to the royal family of Travancore of present-day Kerala state in India. Later in his life, two of his granddaughters were adopted into that royal family, and their descendants comprise the totality of the present royal family of Travancore, including the latest three Maharajas. Unable to bear the humiliation, she demanded Bhima kill Kichaka for justice.
Varma captures the emotion of shock and helplessness on each figure with the utmost care. This episode from the Mahabharata is often dramatized in the Kathakali dance performances.
Damayanti and Nala are also the central characters of Nishadha Charita compiled by Sriharsha, one of the five great epics of Sanskrit literature.
The Hamsa or the swan tells Damayanti about Nala, and she falls in love with him. The swan is actually a messenger sent by Nala. The two are eventually married and go on to have a difficult but happy life together. Damayanti was celebrated for her beauty and chastity. Varma used his imagination to paint a beautiful woman, dressed elegantly in a red sari. The setting is very idealized and romantic with marble interiors and a lotus pond.
Unlike Kerala, where the sari was tightly wrapped around the body, the Bombay women wore it differently with interesting drapes and graceful folds which Varma found quite appealing. She is the goddess of knowledge, music, and the arts. Along with Lakshmi and Parvati, Saraswati forms the trinity of Hindu goddesses.
In traditional iconography, Saraswati is depicted as a beautiful woman dressed in a white sari, sitting on a lotus, playing the veena. White symbolizes purity and wisdom. Generally she is shown with four hands holding a rosary, a book, a quill, and the veena. Sometimes, there is a swan and peacock near her. The swan is a symbol of transcendence and the peacock of the splendor of color and dance.
She is often sitting near a body of water, alluding to her past as a river goddess. Varma retained the iconography of the goddess Saraswati with the addition of the crown which is often seen in Tanjore paintings. The flowers scattered around are Chrysanthemums, frangipani, and hibiscus. Verma traveled the length and breadth of India for his subjects. The Maharashtrian Lady is a portrait of an unknown woman who posed for Varma.
He preferred painting women with big, bold eyes, a symbol of feminine beauty in Indian culture. Fruit represent fertility combined with the sensuality of the female subject.
Her gaze is direct and fixed at the spectator suggesting self-confidence. In Woman Holding a Fruit , Varma portrays a young woman holding a fruit in one hand. Her gaze is direct and playful. Her long hair is open which symbolizes female sexuality in southern India. Also her sari is falling from her shoulders suggesting she is both innocent and aware of her sensuality. She was a talented Indian classical singer and also the first woman to be awarded a national fellowship by Sangeet Natak Akademi in She was the muse of three other paintings by Varma entitled, Lady with Swarbat , Mohini , and Heartbroken Unknown date.
Lady in the Moon Light is a portrait of a woman sitting near a lake or river under full moonlit night. She is looking at the spectator who seems to have disturbed her solitude. The full moon is synonymous with feminine beauty in popular Indian culture. Varma uses this romanticized setting to portray his muse who was already a talented singer.
The Galaxy of Musicians portrays a group of female singers with traditional musical instruments. The women wear traditional Indian costumes from different regions. The painting was commissioned by the Maharaja of Mysore. There is a Muslim woman on the right and a Nair woman playing the veena on the left. In the second row, there is also an Anglo-Indian woman with her fashionable hat.
Verma also used the artistic technique of Chiaroscuro with strong contrasts between light and dark areas. Though a western technique, Varma was the earliest Indian artist to use it in his paintings. The effect of Chiaroscuro gives Galaxy of Musicians a dramatic feel in which each figure is given an individual expression.
Through this painting, Varma gives us a glimpse into the diversity of the Indian cultural landscape. However, the painting leaves out women from lower castes, classes, and tribal groups.
In the late 19th century, national unity was a new concept in India, but the painting was one of the early attempts to envision this alien concept. The idea of printing and distributing oleographs was given to Varma by Sir T.
Madhava Rao, former Dewan of Travancore, and later Baroda. The gods and goddesses who only lived in temples or palaces of the royal families thus found their way in the homes of ordinary Indians through oleographs. Here Vishwamitra is seen rejecting Menaka and his daughter Shakuntala. Knowing that the gods had tricked him into marrying Menaka, he renounced the world. The influence of Kathakali dance drama is evident in the eye expressions and the exaggerated hand movements of Vishwamitra.
Vishwamitra was a dedicated and most revered sage who challenged the power of the gods. Indra, the king of gods sent Menaka to seduce Vishwamitra, who was meditating. Menaka succeeded in seducing Vishwamitra with her beauty. She fell in love with him and they had a child named Shakuntala.
Here, Menaka and Vishwamitra are seen in a picturesque setting. While Menaka is looking seductively at Vishwamitra, he appears confused and avoids her gaze.
The model for Mohini was Anjanibai Malpekar, another renowned Indian classical singer. Mohini was a Hindu goddess, the only female avatar of Vishnu.
In popular lore, she is portrayed as an enchantress, a femme fatale who destroys her lovers. In Hinduism, Lakshmi is the wife of Vishnu. Along with Saraswati and Parvati, she forms the Tridevi or holy trinity of goddesses.
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