Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings are celebrated for many reasons. Their aesthetic value being one of them. His rich works, with their meticulous attention to detail, have opened windows to the past and inspired artists, fashion designers, jewellers, illustrators, filmmakers and more.
Taking cognisance of the myriad influences of Ravi Varma, art enthusiast and gallerist Gitanjali Maini and two of the painter prince’s descendants, artists themselves, decided to establish a foundation that would not only celebrate the great artist he was but also initiate, support and promote studies and research on one of the greatest artists of India. Thus was born the Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation in 2015 in Bengaluru.
‘Damayanthi and Hamsam’
“We found that there was no organisation in India that was working on the multi-faceted aspects of his body of work and his contributions to culture, literature and art. So we decided to start a Foundation that would promote his legacy and document his influence on jewellers, personal beliefs, theatre and textiles and on other artists through exhibits and talks,” says Jay Varma, a direct descendant of Ravi Varma.
He was in Thiruvananthapuram to showcase a 30-minute video, Encounters With The Botanical , funded by the Foundation. The film, screened in the capital city in association with Heritage Walk Trivandrum, was part of a research project on the presence and significance of botanicals in Ravi Varma’s works that was done by Gitanjali Sachdev, Dean of Srishti School of Design in Bengaluru.
‘Viswamithra Menaka’
“Over the past four years, we launched several initiatives, but this project undertaken by Gitanjali [Sachdev] has a special place in our hearts. This was a project born out of passion and powered by dedication. The thought process and the research that have gone into the project have been commendable,” says Jay.
The organisation also provides valid authentication of Raja Ravi Varma’s works. Moreover, the Foundation seeks to uphold the traditions and expressions, which the great artist sought to promote and delineate though his works, a rich cultural heritage that is not contained within the geographical borders of our country only. The Foundation has been engaging with researchers, authors, writers and scholars to promote his legacy in varied fields. Over the last four years, the Foundation has held exhibitions and talks by experts. Recently, Devdutt Pattanaik was invited by the Foundation to talk on Raja Ravi Varma — His Mythological Perspectives.
A painting by Raja Ravi Varma
“The kind of interest in and public appetite for his work have been encouraging. To commemorate his 171st birth anniversary on April 28, a book was also published on Gitanjali Sachdev’s work along with a talk by Rupika Chawla, renowned author, conservator and writer,” adds Jay.
Taking up the conversation, Gitanjali explains that it was Ravi Varma’s extensive use of flora in his work that made her take up the topic for her research. “Ravi Varma used plants in his paintings as part of culture, worship, adornment or to enhance the ambience. Many of the mythological scenes that he painted were placed in forests or outdoors. Naturally, plants abound in these scenes.” He has also used plant motifs on different surfaces and materials while depicting indoor scenes. Instead of life-like representations, many of the motifs were abstract and stylised.
‘The Swan Messenger’
Gitanjali adds that the presence of flora could be attributed to several factors that influenced the artist during his growing-up years in erstwhile Travancore. The significance of certain plants in many Hindu households such as Ravi Varma’s, his proximity to plants in Kerala, his travels, aesthetic influences of his patrons, his mother’s knowledge of herbal medicines and Ayurveda... all may have been factors that made him so comfortable with flora. Gitanjali identified and documented 46 plants across 33 works. Botanists and taxidermists were also roped in to ensure that the identification was error-free.
Rupika, says Gitanjali, has identified five themes in his works: scenes from mythology, Hindu religious subjects, portraits of aristocrats, women and scenes of everyday life; Ravi Varma had used plants in all these works.
Jay Varma
Jay adds that Ravi Varma was greatly influenced by the Dutch artist Sir Alma Tadema who was exceptionally good at painting marble surfaces and his genre of work was imaginative realism. “He painted scenes of ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece. Raja Ravi Varma’s work is very similar and consists of many paintings that fall into the genre of imaginative realism. He imagined scenes from Indian mythology and painted those. He did do portraits and landscapes but he is well known today for his handling of Indian mythology,” elaborates Jay.
Self portrait of Raja Ravi Varma displayed at C.P. Art Centre, Alwarpet, Chennai.
He recalls that a large portrait in their collection was of Ravi Varma’s mother-in-law, whom “we used to call ‘Karutha Ammumma’, because of her strikingly dark complexion. It is an extremely interesting work; you have this no-nonsense matriarch with a stern expression on her face. She is who she is! She is painted wearing a red shawl and holding a rudraksha mala in her fingers. In the background is a marbled surface, which creates a beautiful contrast. It is one of his finer works. He created his own world and that was his magic,” says Jay.
ARTISTIC PURSUITS
Jay Varma and his mother, Rukmini Varma, are reputed artists in their own right. “My awareness of Raja Ravi Varma was a little late in coming. My great-grandmother and grandmother, Lalitha Varma would tell me stories; I practically grew up with her and more often than not, she would be at home when my parents were out for some work or the other. “My great-grandmother was also instrumental in me being introduced to the world of Indian mythology. She used to have us sit down and would retell these stories in great details, like one chapter in a day; it would take days and weeks, her storytelling was so unique and fantastic. I have never met anyone of that calibre ever,” remembers Jay. He recalls coming to Thiruvananthapuram, where his great-grandmother was once the Regent Queen Sethu Lakshmy Bai of erstwhile Travancore, as a child. “We did not go so much to the city, we used to go Halycon Castle at Kovalam, Satelmonde Palace at Poojappura and Pothencode. I must have been in my pre-teens or teens,” he recalls.
Author and artist Rukmini Varma, great great grand daughter of Raja Ravi Varma
Largely self-taught, Jay, however, did an extensive apprenticeship at Studio Incamminati in the US, under the mentorship of Nelson Shanks, artist, historian and collector. He is now working on a series of oils on canvas based on certain women in Indian mythology.
He plans to have about ten to 14 paintings in the series. So there is Draupadi, Meenakashi, Mythili and Mandodari...“However, Meenakshi is Soorpanakha. The Soorpanakha in Valmiki Ramayana is portrayed as a villain but in certain other versions of the epic, she is portrayed as a victim. There are many versions, it is up to the viewer to decide if she is the villain or the victim. One of the versions has it that she was named Meenakshi by her mother. I have painted her as a dark-skinned woman, as a victim; she is shown against a dramatic red background to indicate impending danger,” he elaborates. “At present, I have finished a canvas of Damayanthi, one of Ravi Varma’s favourite themes. In fact, he had painted several versions of Damayanthi, so has my mother. My mother has done a large work of Nala and Damayanthi with the swan and I had posed for Nala!” he says.
Jay’s recent work depicts Damayanthi after she has been abandoned by Nala in the forest. Nala has disappeared after tearing off a piece of Damayanthi’s clothes. “So I have shown her leaning on a tree, holding a piece of cloth and trying to make sense of why she has been abandoned. What she is wearing is a ‘kara mundu’. It was used by my mother when she used to do her pooja, even the oil stains are there on the painting. Although Ravi Varma would have probably favoured the sari, I have particularly chosen the ‘kara mundu’,” he explains.
