Virtual ‘Varma’ kalai

CHENNAI: The Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation, Bengaluru, is marking its fifth year of inception and 172nd birth anniversary of Ravi Varma’s with an exclusive online event on April 29. The foundation has teamed up with Google Arts and Culture platform for the online release of ‘Wanderers Between Worlds’, a film directed by Vikas Urs and launch of resource material ‘The World of Raja Ravi Varma: Princes & Patrons’ penned by historian Manu S Pillai. Various other exhibits too have been curated for the session. ‘The World of Raja Ravi Varma: Princes & Patrons’, an exclusive research material commissioned by the Foundation, is a documentation of the artist’s art and by extension, India.

While Varma’s puranic paintings are well known, portraits he was commissioned for by the royalty and the wealthy remain obscure. The resource material contains facts, notes, anecdotes, quotes, and some neverseen- before paintings and images. ‘Wanderers Between Worlds’ is a film based on the book ‘Raja Ravi Varma: The Portrait of An Artist, The Diary of C Raja Raja Varma’, by Erwin Neumayer and Christine Schelberger. Authors Neumayer, Schelberger, and Patrick Connors, lecturer at Yale University,

will be part of the online launch. “It gives me so much pride to see the work of my great, great grandfather being brought to the forefront in India and abroad, and I know that we will continue to do much more in the years to come,” said Rukmini Varma, chairperson, The Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation.

The launch is from 11 am to 12.30 pm. To register, write to dmello.peter@ galleryg.com before April 25. The first 100 applications will receive an invitation to the event.