Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) was an Indian painter who achieved recognition for his depiction of scenes from the epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana.

Ravi Varma was born in the royal palace of Kilimanoor, which is situated 25 miles from Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), in Kerala, India. Ravi Varma showed talent at a young age. He got the patronage of Ayilyam Thirunal Maharaja of Travancore when he was 14 years of age, and was taught by the palace painter Rama Swamy Naidu. He was later taught oil painting by a British painter, Theodor Jenson. The power and forceful expression of European painting fascinated Ravi Varma, which came across to him as strikingly contrasting to stylized Indian artwork.

Raja Ravi Varma came to widespread acclaim after he won an award for an exhibition of

Raja Ravi Varma is most remembered for his paintings of beautiful sari-women, who were portrayed as very shapely and graceful. He stayed in the city of Bombay in Maharashtra for some years and drew many a beautiful maharashtrian woman. After a successful career as a painter, Raja Ravi Varma died in (1906) at the age of 58. His paintings are considered to be among the best examples of the fusion of

Criticism of Raja Ravi Varma

Raja Ravi Varma's philosophical outlook is not known or documented, especially his understanding of Western Art forms, though it should be acknowledged that he received formal and systematic training. Those who seek to critically examine his contribution are severely impaired in their project by the absence of any literature written by him (one would require an interpretation of the diary maintained by his brother - also his co-worker and assistant. This is being published by OUP. Neumayer, Erwin and Christine Schelberger (forthcoming), 'The Diary of C. Raja Raja Verma, Brother of Raja Ravi Verma', OUP).

He is criticised for the fact that his paintings overshadowed the traditional art forms because if their widespread reproduction as oleographs, flooding the society with his form of myth, portrayed with static realism. By dispensing with Mughal-style abstraction in favour of stiff academicism, Ravi Varma can be considered as having in one stroke undermined the traditional art, which was both dynamic and rich in form and content. One can find an illustration of this argument in the figures of or in the folk form of . In comparison, clearly lacks this dynamism of expression. Moreover, his approach of frontality has severe limitations in terms of space and movement. By rejecting the traditional models of representation (for example, Chitrasutra is the treatise on art outlined in Vishnudharmottara Purana), he has reduced myth to the level of ordinary humans, a form that has been thoughtlessly copied in all depictions of myth on other mediums such as cinema and television (See TV series Ramayan and Mahabharat). DG Phalke, considered the father of Indian cinema, is thought to have been influenced by Ravi Varma's static realism.

Chitrasutra

• Raja Ravivarma paintings - Great Collection of Oil Paintings

kn:ರಾಜಾ ರವಿ ವರ್ಮ Ravi Varma