Raja Ravi Varma: Portrait of an Artist

The Diary of C. Raja Raja Varma, a journal kept by Raja Ravi Varma’s brother, is one of the most important and authentic source materials on the last ten years of the life of Raja Ravi Varma, one of India’s most famous artists. C. Raja Raja Varma was co-worker, assistant, secretary, and business manager to the renowned artist. Their symbiotic relationship is well known, and they are often referred to as the Ram and Laxman of Indian art. This diary, available in its full and authentic form for the first time, is a huge source of information on the accomplishments of Ravi Varma and the working of his Ravi Varma Fine Arts Lithographic Press over a ten-year period, 1894-5 to 1905. Over 1000 entries accompanied by a colour plate section of rare photographs, paintings drawings, and art magazines of the period, showcase the artist’s method of working and the influences on his art. This journal, which began as a travelogue during Raja Varma’s tour with Prince Martanda Varma in 1894, mostly chronicles the Varma brothers’ journeys while they attended to their flourishing portraiture business. It also contains the only reliable source material on Ravi Varma’s great industrial enterprise, the Ravi Varma Fine Arts Lithographic Press. This press, founded in Bombay in 1894, had an overwhelming impact on modern Indian aesthetics. It introduced a kind of visual imagery, which until this day defines the parameters of popular Indian visual media, especially the now much talked-about Indian calendar pictures, and also modern visual media such as cinema and television. The diary gives an insight into the internal business of the Ravi Varma Press, particularly the separation of the partnership between the Varma brothers and their financial companion Goverdhan Das, and the final transfer of ownership of the Press into the hands of the German master printer Fritz Schleicher. Accompanied by extensive notes and a chronology, The Diary of C. Raja Raja Varma will be an invaluable reference to scholars of Indian art, art lovers and critics, and will appeal to the general reader in India and aborad.