New Delhi   

Art for a worthy cause

WITH DECORATION: A portrait of Saraswati by Raja Ravi Varma

India's largest animal welfare non-government organisation, People for Animals (PFA), is organising an exhibition-cum-sale of Raja Ravi Varma's unique collection of 400 oleographs at Hotel Grand Intercontinental in South Delhi from August 11 to 15.

Widely hailed as the Father of Modern Indian Art, Ravi Varma has been known for his ability to straddle cultures, continents and eras, producing paintings of sheer beauty and sensitivity. The continuing popularity of his paintings is the greatest testimony to his life's work.

Many of the oleographs that will be up for sale at the coming show belong to the personal collection of the late Sir C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar and the proceeds of the fund-raiser will be donated to Saraswati Kendra Learning Centre for Children with Autism, Dyslexia and Learning Disabilities, established by the C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation in Chennai in 1985. This is the 40th anniversary year of the Foundation that was set up in 1966.

According to experts, Ravi Varma's paintings can be classified into portraits, portrait-based compositions and theatrical compositions based on myths and legends. While the last are best known, his mastery probably lay in the first genre where he brought grace and character, capturing facial expressions and fabric textures till his style became his signature. He travelled all over India to collect material on clothes and jewellery, palaces, and temples, festivals and fairs, all of which found place in his paintings. The themes of his paintings were based on the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, Kalidasa's plays and popular myths and legends.

An important influence on his paintings was drama, particularly the Marathi and Sanskrit theatre that he observed in Mumbai. Many of his women wear the Maharashtrian nine-yard sari. The painted backdrops give depth and distance to the paintings with the main subjects posed in front.

There are a limited number of "decorated Ravi Varma paintings" available in the market today and, in fact, there are not too many unadorned original lithographs available either, and a few limited productions of a short period are all that remain of one man's artistic mission. - Bindu Shajan Perappadan

- Bindu Shajan Perappadan

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Maken promises relief for apartment owners
Capital reels under a severe power crisis
Anganwadi workers stage dharna
New traffic circulation plan for Connaught Place
A serious matter, says a concerned DPCC chief
Immunisation drive against Japanese encephalitis
Art for a worthy cause
Apollo Hospitals, Johns Hopkins tie up
Taking the Indian royal platter to newer heights
Man kills three daughters, commits suicide
BJP defeats Congress in MCD by-poll
Proposed bullet-proof wall at Ayodhya opposed
Jamia Millia limping back to normal
Caught in the rain
A glimpse of religious Russia
"Referendum against Congress misrule"
Yamuna all set to cross danger level
Preparing for the Frankfurt show
No deliberate delay: Central Information Commission
Centre justifies freeze on Delhi demolitions
Around the City
Briefly
In the Capital Today

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu