Raja Ravi Varma - Indian painter

Orientalism was not a one way street. Typically, we think of it as a situation where European artists depicted oriental subjects. Some of the more interesting cases, however, are where oriental artists adopted European conventions and practices and joined the fun. This again undercuts the simplistic (Saidean) characterization of orientalist art as exploitative. The fact is, rather, that many artists in the colonial era admired and aspired to European standards. One particularly stunning example of this is the great Indian artist Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906). Here we have an Indian artist living under the British Raj who admired and then acquired the skills of European (orientalist) painting and then applied those skills to subjects from Indian (Hindu) mythology.

 Ravi Varma's works have now become the classical depictions of Hindu mythology in modern times. They are copied and reproduced and you will find them not only in books but in many Indian homes. They have had a profound impact upon the Indian imagination - when Hindus think of scenes from their mythology do tend to do so through the filter of Ravi Varma's idealised depictions. Here below are some examples of his work, including perhaps his most famous and copied work 'Dhamayanthi and the Swan'.