About Us
We are a group of SoCal residents promoting Art amongst talented youngsters and adults in the community. All the members are volunteers, and have been promoting the event since 2007. The RVMAC art contest is open to all talented youngsters in the community, and is supported through generous donations from individuals, well wishers and local organizations, and includes an annual art exhibition to commemorate the legendary Indian artist, Raja Ravi Varma.
Raja Ravi Varma
Raja Ravi Varma was an Indian artist from Kerala. He was quite popular for his portrayal of scenes from the epic sagas of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. He was born in the year 1848 at Killimanoor and lived on till 1906. He is considered as one of the greatest painters from the Indian soil. Ravi varman paintings are considered to be a fusion of indian traditions and european techniques. His representation of a saree clad woman in his oil paintings, shows the lives of a middle class woman and to this date they are cosidered to be graceful. In this post we have a beautiful collection of indian paintings by Raja Ravi Varma for your inspiration. Many of Raja Ravi Varma paintings are displayed in the Laxmi Vilas Palace at Vadodara. Did you know that one of the craters in the moon is named after this popular Indian artist Raja Ravi Varma? As an act of honor, the Kerala government awards people who excel in the field of art and culture with the "Raja Ravi Varma Puraskaram".
Varma was born into an aristocratic family in Travancore state. He showed an interest in drawing from an early age, and his uncle Raja Raja Varma, noticing his passion for drawing on the palace walls, gave him his first rudimentary lessons in painting. When Varma was 14, Maharaja Ayilyam Thirunal, ruler of Travancore at the time, became a patron of his artistic career. Soon the royal painter Rama Swamy Naidu started teaching him to paint with watercolours. Three years later Varma began to study oil painting with Theodore Jensen, a Danish-born British artist.
Raja Ravi Varma went on to become one of the most celebrated artists in India,and abroad - inspiring several talented individuals and descendants to follow his passion in the coming years. He was well known for his portraits, depictions of mythological / historic events in oil, and bringing them to life on his canvas.Much of his original artwork is housed at the Art Gallery in Tiruvanantapuram, Kerala. India.