Raja Ravi Varma was born on April 29, 1848 at Kilimanoor, a small town in Kerala. As a boy of five, he filled the walls of his house with pictures of animals and illustrations from everyday life. His uncle the artist Raja Raja Varma recognized his talents and gave him elementary art lessons. He was taken to Thiruvananthapuram in his fourteenth year to stay in the royal palace and learn oil painting.  During these formative years the young Ravi Varma had many opportunities to discover and learn new techniques and media in the field of painting. His later years spent in Mysore, Baroda ad other parts of the country enabled him to sharpen and expand his skills and blossom into a mature and complete painter. 

The glittering career of Raja Ravi Varma is a striking case study of academic art in India.  In the year following his death, the ‘Modern Review’ described him as the greatest artist of modern India, a national builder who showed the moral courage of a gifted ‘high-born’ in taking up the ‘degrading profession of painting’. He was courted assiduously by the British Empire as well as by the Indian Maharajas.  His less expensive prints of his Hindu deities hung in every home. 

Raja Ravi Varma owed his success to a systematic training, first in the traditional art of Thanjavoor, and then in European art. His paintings can be broadly classified into 1.Portraits, 2.Portrait-based compositions, 3.Theatrical compositions based on myths and legends. 

Though the artist’s immense popularity lay in the third category, the first two types of works prove his merit as an exceedingly sensitive and competent artist. No other painter till today has been able to supersede Ravi Varma in portraiture in the oil medium.

Ravi Varma is considered as modern among traditionalists and a rationalist among moderns. He provided a vital link between the traditional Indian art and the contemporary,  between the Thanjavoor School and Western Academic realism.  He brought Indian painting to the attention of the larger world.

Raja Ravi Varma breathed his last on 2nd October 1906.

Enter the 26th Annual Art Competition. More than $25,000 in cash prizes!

PRIZES

More than $25,000 in Cash Prizes!
5 First Place Awards: $2,500 each
5 Second Place Awards: $1,250 each
5 Third Place Awards: $750 each
15 Honorable Mentions: $100 each

Winners will be featured and finalists’ names will be published in the December 2009 issue of The Artist’s Magazine. 13 finalists will be featured in The Artist’s Magazine’s 2009 Calendar. In addition, nine finalists will be featured in the “Competition Spotlight” in The Artist’s Magazine , 12 finalists will be featured as “Artist of the Month” on our website, and all winners and finalists will receive a certificate suitable for framing.

Plus, the Student/Beginner Division (for artists age 16 or over who (1) have been enrolled in a post-high school art program for no more than four years OR (2) have pursued art on their own or in workshops/lessons for no more than four years):

5 First Place Awards: $150 each
5 Second Place Awards: $75 each
5 Third Place Awards: $50 each

Award Winners in the Student/Beginner division will be featured in the January/February 2010 issue of The Artist’s Magazine.

PLUS all Award Winners and Honorable Mentions receive a 1-year subscription to The Artist’s Magazine.

The deadline of May 8, 2009

Arushi Bhatnagar- The world’s Youngest Professional Artist, hold a Guinness book of world record for making her first solo exhibition at the age of 11 months and sell her first art work through it.

Her record can be visited at Guinness World Records -” The record for the youngest professional artist was achieved by Arushi Bhatnagar (India, b. 1 June 2002). She had her first solo exhibition at the Kalidasa Akademi in Ujjain, India, on 11 May 2003 when she was 344 days (or 11 months) old.”

Her first exhibition displayed her 52 art work and had a tremendous resposnse from the visitors. She gave her first public appearance and live demo in this exhibition before audience of about 65-70 people to world known media ZEE TV, which was telecasted world over and then by other news channels like Star news and Sahara TV, etc.

Tanmay Singh

exceptionally well creative brain and painting skills. He has started to sketch in his early childhood. All the diagrams/ figures drawn by him in his school notebooks are being graded A+. He has prepared nos. of charts and posters for his class and school. Last year he was declared as ‘BUDDING ARTIST’ by his school and his artworks were displayed on various Notice Boards and in Art Room. He was Head Boy of Junior sections during 2008-09. His five art works were selected for various Art shows by www.artshowforkids.com. There are approximately 30 visits per day on his prifile which is more than 6 times average visits per day per profile.

Tanmay is so perfectionist since his childhood that while creation if he realizes that his art work is not perfect in all aspect, he starts crying.

Look at some of its artwork