Context: Kilimanoor Palace Trust has decided to put the last unfinished painting of Raja Ravi Verma (Parsi lady) for the public display. He died on 02 October 1906.
About Raja Ravi Verma:
Birth: Kilimanoor, Kerala
Learning: he learnt watercolour painting from the royal painter Ramaswamy Naidu, and later trained in oil painting from Dutch artist Theodore Jensen
Specialisation: Oil and water paintings. He focused on realised expression and skin tone. Varma combined European realism with Indian sensibilities. He was inspired from Indian literature to dance drama.
Achievements: Three gold medals at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
Role towards masses: He opened a Lithographic Press in Bombay in 1894 to take his art to masses. His lithographs increased the involvement of common people with fine arts and defined artistic tastes among common people.
Important work:
- Shakuntala
- Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair
- There Comes Papa
- Galaxy of Musicians
- Damayanti talking with a swan
- Maharaj Shivaji
Legacy
2014 Indian Hindi-language film, Rang Rasiya (English title: Colours of Passion) explores Varma’s inspiration behind his paintings.
The Parsi Lady painting
