The 25th anniversary celebration of Ramsons Kala Prathistana, which was established to promote Mysuru’s art and culture, got off to a start here on Tuesday.
Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Swami of Suttur Mutt inaugurated the celebrations at a function held here in the presence of connoisseurs of art. Artist B.K.S. Varma inaugurated the Ram Singh’s Museum of Mysuru Paintings which has been set up to mark the 25th year of the foundation.
The display of Mysuru paintings includes artworks by 18 contemporary artists from Mysuru and Bengaluru. The visit to the museum located on Zoo Main Road is by appointment and interested persons can call 98801-11625.
R.G. Singh of the prathistana said the Mysuru style paintings on display at the museum had been collected since many decades. The idea behind the museum is to ensure that the traditional art of Mysuru style of painting is not lost to future generations. The museum aims to create a corpus of this art and help in the studies and research by students besides conserving and preserving the paintings, he added.
On the occasion, architect Kuldip Singh, who recently bequeathed his extensive collections of Thanjavur and Mysuru paintings numbering over 400 to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalay in Mumbai, released the booklet “Mysuru Chitra Set”.
A release said here that Ramsons Kala Pratishtana has been commissioning Mysuru paintings from contemporary artists of this style since its inception. The idea behind this was to support the artists. In the beginning the subjects were common, later the artists were asked to recopy rare paintings not represented in the Trust's collection. “At present the artists are provided with our design compositions to create original artworks. We have worked with about eighteen artists of Mysuru style in the past two decades,” the prathistana stated.
The paintings of artist Chandrika N., the fifth daughter of M. Ramanarasiah, Mysuru palace artist, are on display at the museum. She has taught the art to innumerable students at the Sri Jayacahamaraja Traditional Mysuru Style Painting School (SJTMSPS), operating out of Jaganmohan Palace at Mysuru, established by the then scion of Mysuru royal family, the late Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar.
Dundaraja is another artist whose artworks are exhibited. He has been adorned with many awards and recognitions for his art. He has received Mysuru Dasara award and Karnataka Lalitakala Academy award. He is now a visiting faculty at CKP and teaches the basics of Mysuru style paintings, the release stated.
Kala Kuldeep, who was born into a family of artists, is another artist whose artworks had been showcased in the museum. Her father M.B. Basavaraju was a trained artist who had learnt European academic style art from the famed Chamaraja Technical Institute of Mysuru. He was proficient in water colour landscapes and served as the Chairman of the Karnataka Lalitakala Academy, a release stated.
