''Nair lady Adorning Her Hair'' is an 1873 painting by

Raja Ravi Varma Raja Ravi Varma ( ml, രാജാ രവിവർമ്മ; 29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906) was an Indian painter and artist. He is considered among the greatest painters in the history of Indian art. His works are one of the best examples ...

. The painting depicts a domestic scene in which a

Nair The Nair , also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom histor ...

woman adorning her hair with a garland of flowers in front of a mirror. The painting was notable for being the first major award-winning work that Ravi Varma had completed. Receiving praise at the international and national level, the

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

had brought the young Ravi Varma into the attention of the global artistic community, as well as leading him on to later become one of the most well known modern Indian painters.

Background

Raja Ravi Varma was born on 1848 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 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Ravi Varma was primarily known for incorporating

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

themes and ideals with

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an styles. Varma was one of the first Indian artists to make use of

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

and

lithographic Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

methods. Ravi Varma was first exposed to European methods of painting when he watched a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

painter when he arrived to do some paintings for the palace. Through trial and error, Ravi Varma had learned rudimentary techniques of oil painting. After deciding that painting would be a full-time profession, he had gone on to do some portraits and other small tasks for important local people. After returning to

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 populati ...

, Varma had been commissioned to do oil paintings for the

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 ...

Royal Court. After receiving an award for this task, he had gone on to paint ''The Nair Lady Adorning Her Hair'', which was to be his first point of recognition in the national and international level.

Subject and themes

Although Ravi Varma was trained in the European styles of painting——employing the techniques for

illusionism Illusionism in art history means either the artistic tradition in which artists create a work of art that appears to share the physical space with the viewer"Illusionism," ''Grove Art Online''. Oxford University Press, ccessed 17 March 2008 or ...

and oil painting——Ravi Varma's style was primarily Malayali. The painting's subject includes a Nair lady adorning her hair in front of a mirror within a familiar household setting. Ravi Varma used techniques that used

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

, but evoked styles from European artists such as Botticelli and Renoir. A common theme found in Ravi Varma's paintings are that of domesticity and female beauty, based on native values. Ravi Varma's paintings of Nair women in general were seen as part of a turning point in the discourse on female

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

within the matrilineal context. It has been described that a notable feature about Ravi Varma's paintings of such

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

were the passive beauty and unerotic sensuality. Of even greater significance was the image of domesticity that Ravi Varma had presented.

Exhibition

The painting was awarded the first prize, the prestigious Governor's Gold Medal, when it was presented at the

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Fine Arts Society Exhibition of 1873, bringing Raja Ravi Varma into the limelight. He also received a Certificate of Merit at the International Exhibition held in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

for the painting.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * {{Raja Ravi Varma 1873 paintings Indian paintings Raja Ravi Varma