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Raja Ravi Varma was an Indian painter whose mesmerising paintings graced the walls of Indian households and public spaces in the 1890s. Those paintings were printed and mass-distributed, making fine arts accessible to the general public.
That is how calendar art came into existence!
To learn more about our intriguing “calendar art”, this blog will guide you through the details, the artist, and how it was popularised during the times. We will also learn about the criticism that Varma had to come across and the drawbacks of calendar art, if any.
What is Calendar Art?
Printed photos of the pantheon of Gods and goddesses, including Saraswati, Lakshmi, Vishnu, Kartikeya, and others, were worshipped by people of the Hindu culture in their sacred space, the Puja room.
These prints, high in saturation, made them appealing to the Indian population that appreciated the flawless beauty and modern aesthetics of these Raja Ravi Varma famous paintings, a popular Indian painter of the mid-1800s. That is how calendar art was born!
Were these oleographs all about Raja Ravi Varma’s iconic paintings of Indian deities that are perfect for your puja room? The demand for portraits of nationalist leaders, who struggled for the independence of India, was greater, and calendar art introduced these revered identities to their homes.
Apart from Hindu deities and freedom fighters, calendar art was also about exquisite landscapes that best represented the realism of Varma’s paintings.
Raja Ravi Varma: The Pioneer of Calendar Art in India
Raja Ravi Varma, an Indian painter born in 1848, was the pioneer of modernism in art in India, whose paintings of women in modern sarees and high-necked blouses showcased Western influences in Indian artworks.
His creative interests and influences were shaped by the guidance of well-known Indian and European artists. Born to father Ezhumavil Neelakanthan Bhattatiripad and mother Uma Ambabayi Thampuratty, the painter, when he was a child, scribbled on the walls with charcoal, and a servant would be mopping it intermittently for him to continue with his drawings.
Raja Ravi Varma got married to Bhageerathi Bayi at the age of 18, who was 12 at that time, in a royal family. Although he was privileged because of his royal connections, he was nevertheless highly talented and “he never rested on his privilege, and worked very hard till the very end,” as noted by a popular Indian writer and historian, Manu S. Pillai.
How was Calendar Art Popularised?
Raja Ravi Varma, the Indian painter of modernism in art, was also the first person who, along with his brother C. Raja Raja Varma, set up a Lithographic Press in the 1890s in Girgaum, Bombay.
This large-scale printing technology, eventually shifted to Lonavala, was being used for the first time to produce innumerable oleographs of the popular paintings by the Indian artist. Scenes from mythological texts like the Mahabharata, Ramayana, and the Puranas were featured in these oleographs.
That is how “calendar art” was introduced to the Indian masses, which challenged the caste hierarchies in the society. Now, these prints or paintings could be accessed by commoners, which made Raja Ravi Varma a common name in Indian households. The commoners were also getting introduced to fine arts for the first time in their lives.
Criticism Against Raja Ravi Varma’s Calendar Art
Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings and oleographs were no doubt highly praised by the common people, but there was also a lot of backlash. There are several reasons for this:
Unlike paintings of the past, when Gods were not realistically painted or sculpted, the Indian painter created Hindu deities like Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Vishnu in a human-like manner, which he called “symbolic realism.”
This new representation challenged the stereotypes of traditional Indian paintings, and therefore, his paintings stirred a lot of controversy. Apart from this aspect, some debates argue that the diversity of India’s richest heritage was erased by the romanticised portrayal of the mythology in his paintings. In this regard, his artworks are called “kitsch.”
Unlike the women in the native village of Kerala who were topless, with the mundu (sarong), Raja Ravi Varma painted women in Indian attire with Western influences like modern sarees and high-necked blouses with full sleeves.
The visual identity of these women was taken to be that of a higher-caste and further reinforced notions of femininity. Rather than challenge patriarchal norms, it perpetuated stereotypes.
With the mass production of artworks through the lithograph press, Varma, as remarked by art historian Rupika Chawla, “focus on marketability led to a dilution of his artistic authenticity.” The Indian painter was more interested in pleasing his patrons than working on pushing the limits of his artistic expressions.
Drawbacks of Introducing Calendar Art
Although calendar art was no less than a revolutionary change, it also had some drawbacks. Raja Ravi Varma’s stature as an artist was affected when the prints were produced in cheap colours, and these were distributed widely. Also, these oleographs were produced in large quantities, and the painter’s stature was impacted by these excesses!
Bottom Line
Calendar art in India, pioneered by the Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma, made a sweeping change in its visual culture by introducing mythological forms and figures within the homes of the Indian masses.
Artworks were democratised as they became accessible to the common people, but at the same time, they also challenged the caste hierarchies and the social structure. Calendar art came with a lot of benefits as well as drawbacks.
Thus, we can say that these oleographs served as a revolutionary bridge and a contested legacy in those times and a cultural heritage now!