Raja146;s Rule

WHEN historian Robert Del Bonta bought a stack of Raja Ravi Varma oleographs for 25 paise a piece in 1980, Saryu Doshi, honorary director of...

WHEN historian Robert Del Bonta bought a stack of Raja Ravi Varma oleographs for 25 paise a piece in 1980, Saryu Doshi, honorary director of Mumbai8217;s National Gallery of Modern Art NGMA, chuckled at the European8217;s eccentricity.

Today, people willingly pay up to Rs 60,000 for an oleograph. And Doshi, who regrets not being more careful with her own collection was behind the recent NGMA exhibition on the Kerala artist.

8216;8216;Ravi Varma was one of the most eclipsed and underrated artists for 90 years. During the 8217;80s, people had to be persuaded to loosen their purse strings and buy one of his oleographs. Now they are frantic to acquire one,8217;8217; she says.

Small wonder that everyone from Mumbai8217;s Baja Art Gallery to Delhi8217;s Gallery Espace are selling Varma8217;s oleographs. Collectors are digging out works from their attics and re-evaluating them. Designer Satya Paul even named a collection after him. And it8217;s certainly the first time a youth magazine like Rave has a classical artist on its cover. Bookstores are stocked, not just with the recent glossies there have been three in the last two months, but even with prints, postcards, and his famous mythological paintings.

8216;8216;It8217;s not just a coincidence when a figure like Ravi Varma re-emerges in the public eye,8217;8217; says young historian Priya Maholay-Jaradi. Doshi is of the opinion that people are finally cashing in on a process that started way back in 1987.

But was it just the auction house hammer that year, where a Ravi Varma first sold for Rs 50 lakh?

nbsp;	FAST FACTS

		nbsp;	8226; Born 1848 and died 1906 in Killimanoor, Kerala, Ravi Varma was India8217;s first self-taught, oil-on-canvas painter. 8226; He was a favourite among royalty. Maharaja Ayilam Tirunaal of Travancore presented his Tamil Lady Playing the Swarbat to the Prince of Wales. 8226; An itinerant painter, Varma visited Vadodara8217;s Gaekwad Maharajas, Mysore8217;s Sri Chamanrajendra and Thiruvananthapuram8217;s Travancore Maharajas. 8226; Earlier known as just Ravi Varma, the Raja was added to his name when he was awarded the Kaiser-e-Hind in 1904.	nbsp;

Delhi-based art historian and restorer Rupika Chawla believes it8217;s also a matter of the heart. Currently working on a book on Varma herself, Chawla was instrumental in bringing together 8216;New Perspectives8217;, the biggest exhibition on Varma8217;s works in 1993, at the National Museum in New Delhi.

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8216;8216;His oleographs have a pervasive effect on the Indian psyche,8217;8217; explains Chawla. People have grown up with his prints and seen the oleographs around them in some form or the other. 8216;8216;Now when they see the originals, there8217;s renewed excitement, and value for his art,8217;8217; says Chawla, who is planning another mammoth exhibition on the artist at Delhi8217;s NGMA next year, with rare works from private royal collections.

Maholay-Jaradi places the origin of interest on new findings in academia. Partho Mitter8217;s book Art and Nationalism in Colonial India is an instance. 8216;8216;The book gave access to writing in Malayalam on Ravi Varma that shed new light on the artist,8217;8217; explains Maholay-Jaradi. While it has a niche readership, she points out that it rekindled interest in younger scholars, coffee table book writers and even the media.

8216;8216;Naturally, when one is unravelling the enigma of a pioneer like him, there8217;s renewed interest in his art too.8217;8217;