The College of Fine Arts Kerala is a

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...

s college located in

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populatio ...

(Thiruvananthapuram).

History

The college was founded in 1881 by

Moolam Thirunal Sir Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma (1857–1924) was Maharajah of the princely state of Travancore between 1885 and 1924, succeeding his uncle Maharajah Visakham Thirunal (1880–1885). Early life and education Mulam Thirunal Rama Varma was bo ...

Sir Rama Varma, the

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, a ...

for the state of

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

. The college was first known as H. H. The Maharaja’s School of Arts, Travancore. In 1063 (1881),· Mr. K. Narayana Iyer was sent to Madras to study the working of the School of Arts there. He returned towards the middle of the next year, and was appointed First Superintendent of the newly-instituted School of Arts in Trivandrum. Mr. K. Narayana Iyer resided at Vazhuthacaud near Women's College. M.R.Madhavan Unnithan was heading the institution during 1920s. He was superintendent during 1920s to 1930s. After him T.S. Seshadri was designated as the superintendent and appointed by the Diwon of Travancre, Sir. C.P. Ramaswami Iyer. Seshadri was a Travancore palace artist who was very famous for oil paintings and portraits. Kerala fine arts

In the beginning the school offered courses for drawing and painting, and three subjects of handicrafts namely ivory work, pottery and smithery. There were a two years junior course and two years senior course. An entrance test was there in freehand drawing even during 1930s. The selected students were given a scholarship of Rs.5/- for the junior course and Rs.7/- for the senior course during 1930s. It was under the department of education and by 1930s, it was brought under the dept of Industries ignoring the protest from the Dept of Education. When University of Travancore came into being it was brought under the University. In 1957, after the formation of first democratically elected government in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, the School of Arts was brought under the Directorate of Technical Education. In 1975, the school was upgraded as the College of Fine Arts and became affiliated with the

University of Kerala University of Kerala, formerly the University of Travancore, is a state-run public university located in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital of Kerala, India. It was established in 1937 by a promulgation of the Maharajah of Travancore, Chit ...

. In 2001, the college celebrated its silver jubilee year with exhibitions, seminars and workshops.

Organisation

The college is under the Directorate of Technical Education, Govt. of Kerala, and is affiliated to the University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram . It is a UGC recognised institution. The college offers Post Graduate MFA courses in Painting and Sculpture. Duration of the course is four semesters. It also offers professional Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) courses broadly in three disciplines: Painting, Sculpture and Applied Art. Duration of the BFA course is four years. After the completion of four years, students have to appear for the examination conducted by the University of Kerala. The curriculum of the first year of the four-year BFA degree course is an integrated course for all students and acts as a foundation to the BFA specialisation courses. Students who pass the first year university examination are allotted one of the three specialisations according to their talent and choice. The MFA follows semester system.

People who headed the institution

*K. Narayana Aiyar ( first Supdt, 1888). https://archive.org/details/IvoryIndia *M.R.Madhavan Unnithan ( Supdt.,School of Arts during 1920s ) *T.S. Seshadri( Supdt.,School of Arts during 1940s ) *C.K Ramakrishnan Nair (CK Ra) (Supdt.,School of Arts during 1960s )

List of principals after upgrading to college in 1975

*C.L. Porinjukutty - 1976 to 1986 * Kanayi Kunhiraman - 1987 -1987 *K.V. Haridasan - 1987 -1992 *M. Sanathanan - 1992 -1997 *Kattoor Narayana Pillai-1997-2001 *S.Ajayakumar - 2001 - 2011 * N. N. Rimzon - 2011 - 2014 *A.S. Sajith - 2014 - 2017 *Tensing Joseph - 2017 - 2018 *Manoj Vyloor - 2020 - 2022 *Narayanankutty k - 2022 -

Current principal

*Prof. Narayanankutty k

Artists

Over the years a number of distinguished artists and art educators of the country have nurtured the college: * Krishna K. Hebbar. * Narayan Shridhar Bendre * Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh * K.G.Subramanyan * A.Ramachandran * R.Sivakumar * George Martin. P.J * Aji. V.N * Hareendran T.K * N. L. Balakrishnan

References

External links

- www.cfakerala.ac.in - This is the official website of College of Fine Arts Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram- www.dtekerala.gov.in - This is the official website of Directorate of Technical Education, Govt.of Kerala
{{authority control Colleges in Thiruvananthapuram Arts and Science colleges in Kerala Art schools in India 1881 establishments in India Schools in Kerala