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Machinery, lithos shifted from Varma’s Malavli press near Lonavla

PUNE: Pune has lost the Raja Ravi Varma museum that was planned in Chinchwadgaon. It is now taking shape in Karnataka at Hasta Shilpa Trust’s heritage village in Manipal.

The museum in Pune was to be built in memory of the illustrious 19th century Kerala painter and contain the original artefacts from the press he set up in Malavli in 1896.

The century-old German printing machinery, litho stones and original oleographs, which were part of the legendary painter’s press near Lonavla, have already been shifted to Manipal where a Raja Ravi Varma Archival Museum is planned.

Founder-secretary of the trust Vijaynath Shenoy told DNA that the press and all that it contained had been lying in neglect.

“The Maharashtra government, the central government or even the Kerala government (Varma was born in that state) could have taken up the responsibility of setting up the museum,” said Shenoy. That’s when the Hasta Shilpa Trust took it upon itself to preserve all that was at the press.

Varma was famous for his paintings from Indian mythology and religion and is among the greatest painters in the history and tradition of Indian art. He established his litho press with German machines at Malavli in 1896. Since then, Malavli has been a place of artistic quest for scores of Indian students and researchers.

Eight years ago, Chinchwadgaon-based artist Mukesh Prabhune, had actively led the Raja Ravi Varma Samiti to gather support for establishing a Ravi Varma museum at Chapekar Wada in Chinchwadgaon. Prabhune had pleaded with the state government and owners of Ravi Varma’s property in Malavli to help establish the museum in Varma’s memory. The museum’s proposal was still-born. At Manipal, the Hasta Shilpa Trust has launched the heritage village project spread over six acres in the heart of the town. It relocates old houses, shrines, monasteries and buildings that were in ruins in their original locations.

“We relocated 26 dilapidated structures. We wanted to preserve the indigenous skills and technique involved in their construction. Hence the idea of setting up the Raja Ravi Varma Archival Museum came up,” said Shenoy. The museum was launched last December, and is now half-ready.

Shenoy said that Ravi Varma produced more than 100 paintings in 58 years. He adopted the European medium of oil painting, engaged the services of German technicians, imported machines from Germany to mass produce his works. The trust at Manipal now has nearly 100 litho stones with the impression of Ravi Varma’s paintings.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1196860