Raja Ravi Varma Commemorative Stamp Folder

Raja Ravi Varma Commemorative Stamp Folder. Issued by the Indian Posts & Telegraphs on April 4th, 1971, on Raja Ravi Varma’s 123 years birth anniversary. See also my post- 1971 Raja Ravi Varma Commemorative First Day Cover. Raja Ravi Varma India’s greatest artist was a household name when he was alive 120 years ago and still a household name today. Bombay GPO released this Stamp Folder in 1971.

Achieved only by his extraordinarily skilled artwork, realistically portraying his subjects, almost breathing life into them. His oil paintings of Hindu deities looked startlingly real, no other artist in India ever painted so imaginatively like him. Since his oil paintings were expensive, the general people could afford the oleographs he brought out from his newly established press in 1894.

See my post on- Raja Ravi Varma’s “Birth of Shakuntala” Oleograph c1894. Read about Raja Ravi Varma Godfather of Indian Art.

Did You Know– That he was so widely acclaimed even when he was alive that the national and foreign press set up camp in his small hometown of Kilimanoor in 1906 to report on the condition of his last dying days.