Art for One, Art for All: The Illustrious Life of Raja Ravi Verma

Be it the captivating eyes of Menaka, the apsara, the alluring Vishwamitra, or Goddess Lakshmi who showers people with wealth, standing with all her divine glory on a lotus, almost every Hindu household in India has a Raja Ravi Varma painting adorning their walls. Being the first Indian artist who brought a fusion of Indian icons and Western painting techniques, Raja Ravi Varma built his fame around his unique style and unparalleled skills.

(The illustrious life of Raja Ravi Verma; Image Source: News9 Live)

As the illustrious nineteenth century began, all Indian temples, shops, lanes, and homes were studded with colourful paints and pictures of Indian deities and mythological figures. Raja Ravi Varma made the majority of these paintings. The British thoroughly motivated him to use western painting techniques and aesthetics to decode various Indian mythological events. Varma initiated the development of an Indian ethos, which is still in use today.

But how did the story of this extraordinary painter start? Long back in 1848, the village of Kilimanoor in Kerala rejoiced at the birth of a baby. Ravi was not born into a simple family but a family of chieftains famously known by the name of Koil Thampurans. The Koil Thampurans had a tight relationship with Travancore's royals since the bridegrooms for the princesses have always been picked from the Thampuran family.

Varma was always drawn to creative methods and artistic expression in numerous forms from an early age. His uncle supported his blossoming talent and persuaded the Maharaja of Travancore to allow the young Ravi to stay in the palace to enhance his skills. Many painters visited the court during Ravi's residence at the palace, and he was able to study numerous painting methods from them. The Maharaja commissioned the Dutch painter Theodore Jensen to sketch a series of royal portraits, and Varma took full advantage of the opportunity to obtain all he could from Jensen. He started his career in impressionist painting and European idealism at this time.

Geeta Kapur, a well-known art historian, poetically portrayed Raja Ravi Varma. She believes that Varma employs a blend of classic and modern painting practices. Though Varma grew up reading orthodox, classic Sanskrit texts, he also enjoyed experimenting with European art styles. He thoroughly explored various facets of realism and used his practical knowledge to bring life to landscapes and portraits on canvases.

He adopted western styles for an Indian setting, creating a powerful Indian visual aesthetic in her book of essays titled When Was Modernism; Kapur wrote that what Varma made was not just any cheap imitation of European techniques. Instead, he taught himself the nuances of various international art forms. Thus, he could be termed a "gentleman artist in the Victorian mould" who was also "a nationalist charged with the ambition to devise a pan-Indian vision for his people."

When Ravi began the portrait style of painting, he mostly kept aristocratic and famous women as his subject. But later, he made mythological paintings derived from famous epics and texts like Mahabharata, Ramayana, and Puranic texts. He was inspired by the happenings of Parsi and Marathi theatre in Bombay. An Indian economist named Asok Mitra once said, "Varma's paintings contributed to recounting the ancient Indian concept of healthy beauty and life happiness."

When Varma became a famous painter, many royal patrons, including members of aristocratic families and royalties from Indian and foreign families, came forward to support him. Ravi also befriended renowned freedom fighters of those times like Dadabhai Naoroji. For the first few years, RRV’s paintings were meant exclusively for patrons and aristocratic families, but later on, his works were produced and printed in mass quantities.

People from middle-class families also owned oleographs of Ravi's paintings, and most of the households and veneration rooms held his paintings with pride. During those days, lithographic paintings were famous and began gaining popularity in many countries abroad. When the then Dewan of Travancore came to know about the popularity of this form of painting, he immediately suggested Ravi and his brother set up a printing press of their own.

Initially, the Varma brothers set up their printing press in Mumbai, but later, they shifted it to Lonavala. Back then, this printing press carried the reputation of being one of the most advanced printing shops in India. Even after Ravi’s death, this shop was managed by his brother. Eventually, many financial troubles occurred in the shop, and it had to be sold to Fritz Schleicher. Fritz was a German technician with some expertise in the field of the printing press. Fritz Schleicher was able to stem the tide by hiring less competent painters and commercializing the media by taking advertising label offers.

However, things took an ugly turn when in 1972, the printing press caught fire, and the factory was reduced to nothing but ashes. But this wasn't the only loss, as many of Ravi's original paintings were also burned to ashes. Though quite a famous painter, Ravi was often criticized for being too showy in his paintings. Since Western ideas influenced him so much, his paintings often overshadowed the traditional nuances of Indian art.

Many critics have also suggested that he often modelled the Indian goddesses after prostitutes, reducing the importance of the deities to the level of mortal beings. He was also heavily chastised for representing Indian women with a light complexion, particularly those from Hindu myths. Women of lower castes always flaunted their dark skin with absolute honour in Varma's paintings.

Despite all these criticisms, his paintings never failed to please Indians. Even today, the veneration rooms, flex banners, calendars, and advertisements, hold the beautiful paintings of RRV, reminding us of the legacy he left behind. Considered one of the most famous painters in the Indian art realm, Varma's legacy continues to dominate through academic awards, discourses, cinemas, and the Kilimanoor Palace, which still houses many of his famous paintings.

(Kerala lady with fruits - painted by Raja Ravi Verma; Image Source: The Tallenge Store)