Ravishankar Raval (1892–1977) was a painter, art teacher, art critic, journalist and essayist from

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...

, India. He worked for the magazine ''Vismi Sadi'' until it closed in 1921, and then founded the cultural magazine ''

Kumar A coin, around 200 Yaudheyas.html" ;"title="BCE, of the Yaudheyas">BCE, of the Yaudheyas with depiction of Kumāra Karttikeya Kumar (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: wikt:कुमार, कुमार ''kumārá'') is a title, given name, m ...

''.

Life

Ravishankar Raval was born in a

brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests ( purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers ( ...

family on 1 August 1892 in

Bhavnagar Bhavnagar is a city in the Bhavnagar district of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a state of India. It was founded in 1723 by Bhavsinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil (1703–1764). It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, which was a princely state befo ...

(now in

, India). His father Mahashanakar Raval was an officer in the British Communication Service. He spent his childhood in several towns as his father was transferred from one place to another. He wrote that he inherited his artistic instincts from his mother. He graduated from high school in 1909. During his first university year, at the local Arts College, his principal asked him to paint the stage sets for the college drama festival. He advised him to join arts by his

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim con ...

professor Sanjana who was pleased with his artistic skills. Against his fathers non-approval, he joined

Sir J. J. School of Art The Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy School of Art (Sir J. J. School of Art) is the oldest art institution in Mumbai, India, and is affiliated with the University of Mumbai. The school grants bachelor's degrees in fine art and sculpture, and Master's de ...

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the '' de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the sec ...

. He was trained under Cecil Burns, the principal of J. J. School. Though a promising student of the

academic naturalism An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

taught at the J. J. School and a budding portrait painter, Raval gave up these influences to embrace the revival of Indian art that was then gaining ground. In the spirit of cultural nationalism, he held on to these ideas, despite harsh criticism, such as when the Rajput-art-style painting 'Bilwamangal' for which he won the

Bombay Art Society The Bombay Art Society is a non-profit art organization based in Mumbai. The institution was founded in 1888 for encouraging and promoting art. Most of the renowned artists on India's art scene have been associated with the Bombay Art Society in s ...

gold medal was dismissed by a Parsi artist as 'a printed label on mill cloth' He received Mayo Gold Medal at

in 1916.

Career

In 1915, Raval met a prominent journalist Hajji Mohammad Alarakhiya, who was looking for a young artist-illustrator for his new cultural magazine ''Visami Sadi'' (The Twentieth Century), and joined him. He moved to Ahmedabad and started an art school in 1919. He worked for ''Visami Sadi'' until its closing with the accidental death of Haji Mohammad in 1921. From ''Visami Sadi'', he was inspired to start new cultural magazine ''

'' at Ahmedabad in 1924, which is still published. The magazine is said to have made a great impact on Gujarati arts, and was known for its illustrations and experiments in typography. He had drawn the famous painting of the trial of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure ...

's trial on charge of sedition on 18 March 1922 in the Circuit House of Ahmedabad where no cameras were allowed. In 1927, he conducted a month-long art study of the 1st century

frescos Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster ...

of the Ajanta Caves. In 1936, he went on three months art tour to Japan. He had participated in annual conference of Indian National Congress in Haripura in 1938 where he painted paintings. He visited

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

's university,

Santiniketan Santiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by his son ...

in 1941. He was appointed as the President of Art Society of India and the President of Bombay Art Society in 1941. In 1948, he joined Russian artist

Nicholas Roerich Nicholas Roerich (; October 9, 1874 – December 13, 1947), also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh (russian: link=no, Никола́й Константи́нович Ре́рих), was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosoph ...

at his Kulu art center as the house guest. He participated in All India Art Conference at

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

in 1951. He went on art tour to Soviet Russia in 1952. Other noteworthy work includes the remarkable artwork in ''Chandapoli'', a Gujarati children's magazine and ''Kailash ma Ratri'' (A night at Mt.Kailash). Raval illustrated ''Bawlana Parakramo'' (1939), a Gujarati adaptation of the

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...

story by Hansa Mehta. He also drew many paintings of historical figures such as

Narsinh Mehta Narsinh Mehta, also known as Narsinh Bhagat, was a 15th-century poet-saint of Gujarat, India, honored as the first poet, or ''Adi Kavi,'' of the Gujarati language. Narsinh Mehta is member of Nagar Brahman community. Narsinh became a devotee of K ...

Mirabai Meera, better known as Mirabai and venerated as Sant Meerabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition. Mirabai was born into a Ratho ...

Hemchandracharya Hemachandra was a 12th century () Indian Jain saint, scholar, poet, mathematician, philosopher, yogi, grammarian, law theorist, historian, lexicographer, rhetorician, logician, and prosodist. Noted as a prodigy by his contemporaries, he ...

, Chandra Kaumudi,

Akho Akha Bhagat (commonly known as Akho; ) or Akha Rahiyadas Soni was a mediaeval Gujarati poet who wrote in the tradition of the Bhakti movement. He wrote his poems in a literary form called ''Chhappa'' (six stanza satirical poems). Life His ex ...

which became cultural image of the characters. He is also well known for painting the characters of Kanaiyalal Munshi's novels. He had designed quasi-realistic sets of ''

'', the first Gujarati talkie film. His autobiography ''Gujarat Ma Kala Na Pagran'' which was reissued in 2010 with some of his works in it. He died on 9 December 1977 at his home "Chitrakoot" in Ahmedabad after brief illness.

Style

He evolved his own rich style, inspired by the Indian classical painting traditions. He was influenced by

Raja Ravi Verma 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 ...

's religious oleographs. He was influenced by Tagore's informal open studios which influenced his Gujarat Chitra Kala Sangh. He was given the title of ''Kalaguru'', the master of art, by Gujarati author Kakasaheb Kalelkar for his contribution in art in Gujarat. His art school produced several notable artists of India such as

Kanu Desai Kanu Desai, born Kanhaiyalal Hukumatrai Desai, (12 March 1907 – 9 December 1980) was an Indian artist and art director. He contributed to decorative art, drew and designed sets for films, and illustrated several books written by Mahatma Gandhi. L ...

Recognition

During his career, Raval received several awards and medals. He received Mayo Gold Medal at Sir J. J. School of Art in 1916. He was awarded Gold medal from the

in 1917. He won second prize in art-in-industry Expo at

in 1923. He received

Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak, also known as the Ranjitram Gold Medal, was founded by Gujarat Sahitya Sabha and is considered the highest literary award in Gujarati literature. The award is named after renowned Gujarati writer Ranjitram Mehta. It is ...

(1930), the highest literary award in Gujarati literature for his art essays. He received Kalidas Prize in 1925. He received Nehru Award for his book on Russia in 1965. Later he was awarded

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is confe ...

, the fourth highest civilian award of India, in 1965. He was accepted as the Fellow of the

Lalit Kala Akademi The Lalit Kala Akademi or National Academy of Art (LKA) is India's national academy of fine arts. It is an autonomous organisation, established in New Delhi in 1954 by Government of India to promote and propagate understanding of Indian art, in ...

in 1970.

Personal life

He married Ramaben in 1909. They had three sons; Narendra, Gajendra and Kanak.

Bibliography

References

External links

*
Art World of Ravishankar Raval
*
Bibliography at WorldCat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raval, Ravishankar Indian male painters Indian illustrators Indian children's book illustrators 1892 births 1977 deaths Fellows of the Lalit Kala Akademi 20th-century Indian painters People from Bhavnagar Indian male essayists Indian male journalists 20th-century Indian essayists Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Writers from Ahmedabad Gujarati-language writers Recipients of the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak Painters from Gujarat 20th-century Indian male artists