BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER - WOMEN IN MY PAINTINGS
Beauty is a characteristic of a Person, Animal, Place, Object, or Idea that provides a perceptual experience of Pleasure, Meaning, or Satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of Aesthetics, Sociology, Social Psychology, and Culture. An "Ideal Beauty" is an entity which is admired, or possesses features widely attributed to beauty in a particular culture, for perfection.
Each time in history has its own idea of 'beauty' and from early times artists have recorded their particular version of 'beauty'. Throughout the ages, the image of the 'ideal' beauty has been subject to the trends and politics of the times.
I have been fascinated by the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma since my childhood. Great injustice has been done to the artist Ravi Varma in our country because he used modern hues and oils in his work and because of the western influence in his paintings. The critics said his was not Indian art. To me, Ravi Varma is not only among India's greatest artists, but also a great patriot. His depiction of the beauty of the Indian woman is unequalled in Indian art.
I have tried to capture the beauty of Women in Raja Ravi Varma's paintings in some of my works.
"Hamsa Damayanthi" rendered in Oil on 24"x36" Canvas.....
"Maharashtrian Lady" in Oil on Canvas 18"x24"
"Lady Holding a Fruit" in Oil on Canvas 16"x22"
"Kadambari" in Oil on Canvas 75"x90"
have been displayed below....
"Indian Lady" in Oil on Canvas 18"x24"
Vivacious- Oil on Canvas (24in x 36in)
Solitude - Oil on Canvas (22 in x 30 in)
Salacious- Oil on Canvas (24 inx36 in)
Women were portrayed as beautiful and trusted members of the society in the early European art world; their bodies were worthy of veneration. In contrast, in the post-Renaissance paintings, women were represented as an object, devoid of all human feelings. In most of the modern Realistic paintings, women were depicted sexually appealing.