Raja Ravi Varma

Ravi Varma Coil Thampuran

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Born 29 April 1848[1][2]

Kilimanoor, Travancore

Died 2 October 1906 (aged 58)

Attingal, Travancore, British Raj

Occupation Painter, artist

Signature

Raja Ravi VarmaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Raja Ravi Varma Coil Thampuran[3] (Malayalam: �� ; 29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906) was

an Indian painter and artist from the princely state of Travancore (presently in southern Kerala & some parts of

Tamil Nadu) who achieved recognition for his paintings depicting scenes from Indian literature and mythology

including the epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana. He is considered among the greatest painters in the history of

Indian art and his paintings are considered to be among the best examples of the fusion of Indian traditions with the

techniques of European academic art . Varma's paintings portrayed sari-clad women in graceful manner, which

became an important motif of that time, reproductions being found in many homes.[4]

Contents

1 Art career

2 Inspiration

3 Raja Ravi Varma Press

4 Honours

5 Personal life

6 List of major works

7 In popular culture

8 Bibliography

8.1 English

8.2 Malayalam

8.3 Marathi

9 See also

10 Notes and references

11 External links

Art career

Varma was patronized by Ayilyam Thirunal, the then Maharajah of Travancore and began formal training thereafter.[5] He learned the basics of painting in Madurai.

Later, he was trained in water painting by Rama Swami Naidu and in oil painting by Dutch portraitist Theodor Jenson.

Varma received widespread acclaim after he won an award for an exhibition of his paintings at Vienna in 1873. Varma's paintings were also sent to the World's

Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893 and he was awarded three gold medals.[6] He travelled throughout India in search of subjects. He often modelled Hindu

Goddesses on South Indian women, whom he considered beautiful. Ravi Varma is particularly noted for his paintings depicting episodes from the story of Dushyanta

and Shakuntala, and Nala and Damayanti, from the Mahabharata. Ravi Varma's representation of mythological characters has become a part of the Indian imagination

Raja Ravi Varma - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Ravi_Varma

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Jatayu struck down by Ravana from

Ramayana

The studio used by Varma during his stay at the

Laxmi Vilas Palace

Lady Giving Alms at the Temple

of the epics. He is often criticized for being too showy and sentimental in

his style but his work remains very popular in India. Many of his fabulous

paintings are housed at Laxmi Vilas Palace, Vadodara.[7]

Inspiration

As narrated in the novel "Raja Ravi Varma" by Ranjit Desai, There was a

woman called Sugandha Bai who became inspiration for Raja Ravi Varma

to paint gods and goddesses as human beings. Once Ravi Varma happened

to see this beautiful lady in a temple and suddenly felt inspired. He then sketched Sugandha Bai's portrait and gifted her.

Sugandha Bai got attracted towards Raja Ravi Varma's sketches and agreed to become his model to portray Hindu Goddesses

in his paintings.

Raja Ravi Varma Press

Apparently on the advice of the then Dewan (Prime Minister) of Travancore, T. Madhava Rao, Ravi Varma started a

lithographic printing press in Ghatkopar, Mumbai in 1894 and later shifted it to Malavli near Lonavala, Maharashtra in 1899.

The press was managed by Varma's brother, Raja Varma. In 1901 the press was sold to his printing technician from Germany,

Mr. Schleicher and later closed down after it was gutted in an accidental fire.[8] The oleographs produced by the press were

mostly of Hindu gods and goddesses in scenes adapted mainly from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the Puranas. These

oleographs were very popular and continued to be printed in thousands for many years, even after the 1906 death of Ravi

Varma.

Honours

In 1904, Viceroy Lord Curzon, on behalf of the British King Emperor, bestowed upon Varma the Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal. A

college dedicated to fine arts was also constituted in his honour at Mavelikara, Kerala. Raja Ravi Varma High School at

Kilimanoor was named after him and there are many cultural organizations throughout India bearing his name. In 2013, the

crater Varma on Mercury was named in his honor.[9] Considering his vast contribution to Indian art, the Government of Kerala

has instituted an award called "Raja Ravi Varma Puraskaram", which is awarded every year to people who show excellence in

the field of art and culture.

Personal life

Raja Ravi Varma was born as Ravi Varma Coil Thampuran[10] in Kilimanoor palace in the erstwhile Thiruvithankur in Kerala.

His father Ezhumavil Neelakanthan Bhattatiripad was an accomplished scholar, who hailed from the Ernakulam district in

Kerala. His mother Umayamba Thamburatty was a poet and writer whose work Parvati Swayamvaram was published by

Varma after her death. He had 3 siblings namely Goda Varma (born 1854), Raja Varma (born 1860) and Mangala Bayi, who

was also a painter. As per the Marumakkathayam tradition, the name of the maternal uncle (Raja Raja Varma) was prefixed to his name and later he was referred to as


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Raja Ravi Varma.[5]

Varma was married to Pururuttathi Nal Bhageerathi Thamburatty of the royal house of Mavelikkara and they had two sons and three daughters. Their elder son,

Kerala Varma, born in 1876 went missing in 1912 and was never heard of again. Their second son Rama Varma (born 1879), an artist who studied at the JJ School of

Arts, Mumbai, married to Gowri Kunjamma, sister of Dewan PGN Unnithan. Varma's eldest daughter, Ayilyam Nal Mahaprabha, appears in two of his prominent

paintings and was mother of Maharani Pooradam thirunal Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, the Regent of Travancore. Their second daughter, Thiruvadira Nal Kochukunji was the

mother of Amma Maharani Moolam Thirunal Sethu Parvathi Bayi and the grandmother of Maharajah Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma. Their third daughter, born in

1882, was Ayilyam Nal Cheria Kochamma.

His descendants comprise the Mavelikara Royal house while two of his grand daughters, including the said Sethu Lakshmi Bayi and Sethu Parvathi Bayi, were

adopted to the Travancore Royal Family, the cousin family of the Mavelikara House, to which lineage the present Travancore Maharajah (Titular), Uthradom Thirunal

Marthanda Varma, belonged. Well known among his descendants are writers Aswathi Thirunal Gowri Lakshmi Bayi, Shreekumar Varma, artist Rukmini Varma and

classical musician Aswathi Thirunal Rama Varma among others.

List of major works

The following is a list of the prominent works of Ravi Varma.

Village Belle

Lady Lost in Thought

Damayanti Talking to a Swan

The Orchestra

Arjuna and Subhadra

The heartbroken

Swarbat Player

Shakuntala

Lord Krishna as Ambassador

Jatayu, a bird devotee of Lord Rama is mauled

by Ravana

Victory of Indrajit

The gypsies

A Lady Playing Swarbat

Lady Giving Alms at the Temple

Lord Rama Conquers Varuna

Gheevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala

Nair Woman

Romancing Couple

Draupadi Dreading to Meet Kichaka

Shantanu and Matsyagandha

Shakuntala Composing a Love Letter to King

Dushyanta

Girl in Sage Kanwa's Hermitage (Rishi-

Kanya)

Bharani Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore

Sri Shanmukha Subramania Swami

Woman holding a fan


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Sri Shanmukha

Subramania Swami

Saraswati SriRama conquers

Varuna from

Ramayana

Damayanti

from

Mahabharata

Shakuntala from

Mahabharata

Shantanu and

Satyavati from

Mahabharata

Arjuna and

Subhadra from

Mahabharata

Simhaka and

Sairandhri from

Mahabharata

Bharani Thirunal

Lakshmi Bayi of

Travancore

Woman holding a

fan

Galaxy of Musicians The Maharashtrian

Lady

Varma's daughter

Mahaprabha with

her daughter


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Woman Holding a

Fruit

Portrait of a Lady

In popular culture

Bollywood film maker Ketan Mehta directed a movie Rang Rasiya on the life of Varma in 2014 in which Randeep Hooda played the role of the artist

Indian director Lenin Rajendran made a Malayalam movie named Makaramanju (The Mist of Capricorn) in 2010, which narrates Varma's life at a certain stage

in his life. Indian director/cinematographer Santhosh Sivan played the lead role of Varma.

The Marathi textbook of Maharashtra State Board contains a chapter titled 'अपवू� भेट' meaning 'A Meeting Like Never Before' portraying Varma meeting Swami

Vivekananda. It has been edited from the novel 'राजा र�ववमा� (Raja Ravi Varma)' written by Ranjit Desai.

Bibliography

English

Raja Ravi Varma: Painter of Colonial Indian by Rupika Chawla, Pub: Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad, March 2010,

Raja Ravi Varma – Oleographs Catalogueby Dr. D.Jegat Ishwari, Pub: ShriParasuraman, Chennai, 2010, ISBN 9788191002614

Ravi Varma Classic: 2008, Genesis Art Foundation, Cochin-18;45 clour plate with text by Vijayakumar Menon.

Raja Ravi Varma – The Most Celebrated Painter of India: 1848–1906, Parsram Mangharam, Bangalore, 2007

Raja Ravi Varma – The Painter Prince: 1848–1906, Parsram Mangharam, Bangalore, 2003

Raja Ravi Varma and the Printed Gods of India, Erwin Neumayer & Christine Schelberger, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2003

Raja Ravi Varma: The Most Celebrated Painter of India : 1848 – 1906, Classic Collection, Vol I & II. Bangalore, Parsram Mangharam, 2005

Raja Ravi Varma: Portrait of an Artist, The Diary of C. Raja Raja Varma/edited by Erwin Neumayer and Christine Schelberger. New Delhi, Oxford University

Press, 2005

Divine Lithography, Enrico Castelli and Giovanni Aprile, New Delhi, Il Tamburo Parlante Documentation Centre and Ethnographic Museum, 2005

Photos of the Gods: The Printed Image and Political Struggle in India by Christopher Pinney. London, Reaktion Book, 2004

Raja Ravi Varma:Raja Ravi Varma:E.M Joseph Venniyur,former director of AIR

Raja Ravi Varma: A Novel,Ranjit Desai -Translated by Vikrant Pande, Pub: Harper Perennial (2013), ISBN 9789350296615


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Malayalam

Ravi Varma – A critical study by Vijayakumar Menon, Pub: Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademy, Trissur, 2002

Raja Ravi Varmayum chitrkalayum, Kilimanoor Chandran, Department of Cultural Publications, Kerala Government, 1999.

Chithramezhuthu Koyithampuran, P. N. Narayana Pillai.

Raja Ravi Varma, N. Balakrishnan Nair.

Marathi

"Raja Ravi Varma", a novel by Marathi language novelist Ranjit Desai translated into English by Vikrant Pande.

raja ravi verma national gallery of Art new delhi

See also

Hindu mythology

Indian art

Raja Ravi Varma College of Fine Arts

Notes and references

Joshi, Om Prakash (1985). Sociology of Indian art. Rawat Publications. p. 40.1.

K.R.N. Swamy (28 April 2002). "A great painter, no doubt, but controversial too" (http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020428/spectrum/main2.htm). Spectrum–The Tribune.

Retrieved 28 October 2014.

2.

"Restoring works of art" (http://www.thehindu.com/2005/07/19/stories/2005071900840200.htm). The Hindu. Retrieved 18 April 2015.3.

Mitter, Partha (1994). "5 – The Artist as Charismatic Individual – Raja Ravi Varma". Art and nationalism in colonial India, 1850–1922: occidental orientations

(http://books.google.com/books?id=9mRTtkri8E0C&pg=PA179). Cambridge University Press. pp. 179–215. ISBN 978-0-521-44354-8. Retrieved 12 December 2011.

4.

"The Diary of C. Rajaraja Varma"5.

Kilimanoor Chandran, Ravi Varmayum Chitrakalayum(in Malayalam), Department of Culture, Kerala, 1998.6.

Vadodara, Lakshmi Vilas Palace. "Raja Ravi Varma Paintings, Vadodara" (http://www.historyofvadodara.in/2008/05/Raja-Ravi-Varma-Paintings-Vadodara.html).

www.historyofvadodara.in.

7.

Raja Ravi Varma Prints - Google Sites http://sites.google.com/site/ravivarmalithos/8.

"Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature" (http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/15146).9.

PAL, DEEPANJANA (2011). THE PAINTER (https://books.google.co.in/books?id=BRZ-013-2bQC). Random House India. ISBN 9788184002614. Retrieved 18 April 2015.10.

External links

Media related to Raja Ravi Varma at Wikimedia Commons

Raja Ravi Varma Art Gallery (http://ravivarma.org)

Single Largest Collection Online (http://www.ravivarmaoleographs.com)

Ravi Varma's Paintings (http://www.cyberkerala.com/rajaravivarma/)


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Largest collection of the Lithographs from the Ravi Varma Press (http://ravi.varma.lithos.googlepages.com/)

A Large Collection from Varma (http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/art/raviverma/index.htm)

The Hindu: The royal artist by K.K. Gopalakrishnan (http://www.hindu.com/fr/2006/09/29/stories/2006092900240200.htm)

1000 Oleographs from Raja Ravi Varma Press shown as Slide show (http://www.barodaart.com/)

Raja Ravi Varma: His Life, Paintings, Presses and Oleographs (http://www.rajaofart.com)

The Tribune article about him (http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020428/spectrum/main2.htm)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Raja_Ravi_Varma&oldid=671755353"

Categories: 1848 births 1906 deaths Indian painters People from Kerala Malayali people People from Thiruvananthapuram Academic art

Recipients of the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal Travancore Royal Family People on Indian postage stamps

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