ET BureauBENGALURU: Inaugurating her first international exhibition in London, 1976, Lord Mountbatten made a surprising request to Rukmini Varma. The last Viceroy of India asked if she would do a portrait of him in traditional Indian attire -a turban and an achkan.
This, despite knowing that all of Varma's subjects were born out of her own vision. He was assassinated in 1979 before the promise could be fulfilled.
Five years later, MF Hussain walked into Mumbai's Jehangir Art Gallery where Varma was exhibiting her work. He wanted to see for himself the art which, a city news paper reported, caused a "stampede". Those were the years when Rukmini Varma was on top of her game. Her works hung in galleries across the world and her exhibitions were attended by world leaders.
Back home in Bengaluru, where she resided from 1949, Varma was the toast of the society . The great great granddaughter of Raja Ravi Varma and the fourth princess of Travancore, Rukmini Varma's life was as stately as her work. This was until she lost the youngest of her three sons in an accident in 1988. Since then, she refused to display her work. The tragedy pushed her into a life of oblivion. In January 2017, thirty-three years after her Jehangir Art Gallery show, Rukmini Varma is ready for the arc lights again.
"For 30 years, I have been a recluse. My life among grandeur and people had reached its limit," Varma, 76, told ET. "I did not want anything to do with the outside world as I felt my reality was different from theirs." She spent the past three decades serving her 100-yearold father and devoted most of her time to meditation and prayers.
The contrast from her previous life refreshed her, Varma insists, but did not change her artistic bent."I simply took up where I had left off. It all came back to me as if I had never stopped." The exhibition, titled Opulence & Eternity, has nine canvases celebrating the human body against exquisite jewels. Jewellery and gems attract cosmic rays for physical and mental well-being, says Varma, "That's why divinity is often clad head to toe with jewels."
While Raja Ravi Varma's women were regally draped, Rukmini often painted them nude. "I am fascinated with the tones of human skin, its many colours and shades. Painting drapery defeats that purpose," she says. While this exhibition does not have nudes, Varma believes that the point of her work remains the same: appreciating human beauty in a spiritual, meditative way.
Gitanjali Maini, owner of Lavelle Road-based Gallery G, who encouraged Varma to finish her incomplete works, believes that the septuagenarian "fills the void created by the lack of quality work on classical, mythological realism".
This, despite knowing that all of Varma's subjects were born out of her own vision. He was assassinated in 1979 before the promise could be fulfilled.
Five years later, MF Hussain walked into Mumbai's Jehangir Art Gallery where Varma was exhibiting her work. He wanted to see for himself the art which, a city news paper reported, caused a "stampede". Those were the years when Rukmini Varma was on top of her game. Her works hung in galleries across the world and her exhibitions were attended by world leaders.
Back home in Bengaluru, where she resided from 1949, Varma was the toast of the society . The great great granddaughter of Raja Ravi Varma and the fourth princess of Travancore, Rukmini Varma's life was as stately as her work. This was until she lost the youngest of her three sons in an accident in 1988. Since then, she refused to display her work. The tragedy pushed her into a life of oblivion. In January 2017, thirty-three years after her Jehangir Art Gallery show, Rukmini Varma is ready for the arc lights again.
"For 30 years, I have been a recluse. My life among grandeur and people had reached its limit," Varma, 76, told ET. "I did not want anything to do with the outside world as I felt my reality was different from theirs." She spent the past three decades serving her 100-yearold father and devoted most of her time to meditation and prayers.
The contrast from her previous life refreshed her, Varma insists, but did not change her artistic bent."I simply took up where I had left off. It all came back to me as if I had never stopped." The exhibition, titled Opulence & Eternity, has nine canvases celebrating the human body against exquisite jewels. Jewellery and gems attract cosmic rays for physical and mental well-being, says Varma, "That's why divinity is often clad head to toe with jewels."
While Raja Ravi Varma's women were regally draped, Rukmini often painted them nude. "I am fascinated with the tones of human skin, its many colours and shades. Painting drapery defeats that purpose," she says. While this exhibition does not have nudes, Varma believes that the point of her work remains the same: appreciating human beauty in a spiritual, meditative way.
Gitanjali Maini, owner of Lavelle Road-based Gallery G, who encouraged Varma to finish her incomplete works, believes that the septuagenarian "fills the void created by the lack of quality work on classical, mythological realism".
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