Raja Ravi Varma was an Indian painter. He is recognized for his brilliant paintings most of which were dedicated to the scenes from Indian epics, including Mahabharata and Ramayana. The artist managed to combine European realist historicist painting style with Indian traditions.
Ravi Varma also portrayed Indians and the British in India.
Background
Raja Ravi Varma was born on April 29, 1848 in Kilimanoor, the city of the Kingdom of Travancore by the time (now Kerala, the south state of India).
He came from the aristocratic family which had been creating for about 200 years consorts for the princesses of the matrilineal Travancore royal family.
Varma was the son of Ezhumavil Neelakanthan Bhattatiripad, a professor of Sanskrit and Ayurveda, and Uma Ambabayi Thampuratty, a writer. She came from the family of barons which governed the Kilimanoor feudal estate within the Kingdom of Travancore. Raja Ravi Varma published the work of his mother, called Parvati Swayamvaram, after her death.
Ravi Varma had one sister whose name was Mangala Bayi, and two younger brothers, Goda Varma and Raja Varma, who also became a painter and collaborated with his sibling.
Education
Ravi Varma revealed his passion for drawing at an early age. He received his first drawing lessons from his uncle, Raja Varma.
At the age of fourteen, he came under the patronage of Ayilyam Thirunal, the ruler of Travancore by the time.
Later, Varma was taught watercolour technics by the royal painter Rama Swamy Naidu and oil painting by Theodor Jensen, a Dutch portraitist.
Career
Raja Ravi Varma started his career from the exhibition at Vienna in 1873 which provided the painter with Governor’s Gold Medal and brought him a great acclaim. One more significant and successful presentation of Varmas’ works, the World's Columbian Exposition, took place at the Chicago in 1893. Since then, the artist became on highly demand among the notable personalities in India to portray them.
To find the inspiration for his paintings, Ravi Varma travelled throughout his native country. The subjects of his creations were beautiful Indian women, mythological personages from such episodes of Indian history as the story of Dushyanta and Shakuntala, Nala and Damayanti, the Mahabharata. Among these pictures were Harischandra in Distress, Jatayu Vadha, and Shri Rama Vanquishing the Sea.
In 1894, Ravi Varma founded a lithographic printing press in Ghatkopar, Mumbai. Five years later, it was relocated to Malavli near Lonavala, Maharasht. The main goal of the press was to provide the ordinary people with the oleograph copies of the artist's paintings. The duplicates became so popular around the country that they were sold in great numbers even after Varma’s death in 1906.
Unfortunately, under the management of Varma's brother, Raja Varma, the organization stagnated and was bought by Fritz Schleicher, German specialist in printing, in 1901. The factory had successfully functioned till its destruction by fire in 1972.
Achievements
Raja Ravi Varma is considered as one of the most notable Indian painters.
The artist was the first to successfully incorporate the elements of European art, such as oil painting and lithographic reproductions of the original creations, into Indian drawing traditions.
Nowadays, a great number of the Varma’s heritage can be seen at the Laxmi Vilas Palace in Vadodara, India. His Begum’s Bath broke the auction price record for an Indian artist.
A huge exhibition of Raja Ravi Varma's works was organized by art critic Rupika Chawla and artist A Ramachandran in 1993 at the National Museum, New Delhi.
Many organizations were named in the artist’s honour, among which Raja Ravi Varma High School at Kilimanoor and the college of fine arts at Mavelikara, Kerala. There is even a crater Varma on Mercury. Furthermore, the Government of Kerala established an award Raja Ravi Varma Puraskaram dedicated annually to people who excelled in art.
The personality of Ravi Varma inspired many cineasts to film the story of painter’s life. So, in 2010, appeared the movie Makaramanju (The Mist of Capricorn) by Indian director Lenin Rajendran. Varma was interpreted by an Indian director Santhosh Sivan. Four years later, an Indian film maker Ketan Mehta released his version of painter’s life journey, named Rang Rasiya.
Mohini and Rugmangada to kill his own son Raja Ravi Varma
Victory of Meghanada
Ganga Avataran or Descent of Ganga
Dattatreya
Maharana Prathap Singh
The Milkmaid
Swan messenger
Shakuntala
The suckling child
The Maharashtrian Lady
Simhika and Sairandri
Sri Rama breaking the bow
Krishna meets parents
In Contemplation
Sri Krishna, as a young child with foster mother Yasoda
Sri Rama Vanquishing at the Sea
Mrs. Ramanadha Rao
Dhruv Narayan
Yasoda Adorning Krishna
Arjuna and Subhadra
Rajaputra soldier
Harischandra in Distress
Dreaming Shakuntala
Urvashi and pururavas
Pleasing
Arjuna and Subhadra
Bheeshma oath
Shakuntala
Hamsa Damayanti
Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth
Woman with Veena
Woman Holding a Fruit
Jatayu Vadham
Sri Shanmukaha Subramania Swami
Views
Quotations:
"There is no failure. It's only unfinished success."
"The importance of recovering the customs and the institutions of the past thus inaugurating the archaeological approach to art."
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
"The more I saw, the more I admired the Master's genius — his uncanny ability, through the magic of his brush to depict mood, emotion and atmosphere and to encapsulate the whole story in the selected scene. I felt even then that a state of the art folio on his works needed to be brought out. Only, I never imagined that it was I who would eventually be doing it." Parasram Mangharam, author of Raja Ravi Varma, The Painter Prince
"Ravi Varma is not only among India's greatest artists, but also a great patriot. His depiction of the beauty of the Indian woman is unequalled in Indian art....When the art gallery of Mysore was under renovation, I got an opportunity to photograph them and my joy knew no bounds! Over the years I got to see many a fine-print reproductions of Ravi Varma's paintings and have tried to photograph the expression of his subjects." K. L. Kamat
"He has become an Indian Kilroy. No matter where you look - whether in a book on the history of Indian art or one on advertising and printing in India or even something like popular taste and the making of the Indian national ethos - Raja Ravi Varma is there." India Today magazine
Connections
Raja Ravi Varma married Pururuttathi Nal Bhageerathi Amma Thampuran (Bhageerthi Bayi) coming from the Royal House of Mavelikara in 1866. She was younger than her husband by six years. The couple had two sons and three daughters.
Their first born, Kerala Varma, came ten years after the marriage. In 1912, he disappeared without a trace and was never found.
The next Varma’s son, Rama Varma, born in 1879, became an artist.
The name of the painter’s first daughter was Ayilyam Nal Mahaprabha Thampuran. She had a daughter named Maharani Pooradam thirunal Sethu Lakshmi Bayi and served as a model for two of Varmas’ paintings.
The second daughter of Varmi family was Thiruvadira Nal Kochukunji Thampuran.
Ayilyam Nal Cheria Kochamma Thampuran, the painter’s last child, came into being in 1882.
As to famous panter's successors are a writer Shreekumar Varma (Prince Punardam Thirunal), artists Rukmini Varma (Princess Bharani Thirunal), Jay Varma and a classical musician Aswathi Thirunal Rama Varma.
