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Raja Ravi Varma

Ravi Varma may well be considered the foremost modern Indian artist. Living at a time when India and it’s people were changing in many ways, Varma participated and contributed to the alteration of the Indian aesthetic. Not only was he a highly sought-after portrait artist, painting for the many royal families across India but his depictions of scenes from the Indian epics and puranas also found favour among his patrons.

The establishment of the Ravi Varma Press which commenced functioning in 1894 went on to make the artist a household name. The chromolithographs from the Press took art from the privileged domain of patrons to the household of the common man. The artist and the Press together would leave an indelible mark in the perception of religions imagery and societal aesthetics among the people of the Indian sub-continent and beyond.