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From the Ravi Varma Press, Malavali - Lonavala

About Dressed Oleographs

It was in the 19th century that artist Raja Ravi Varma, to make art accessible to everyone — even the middle class, started making oleographs; a print made with oil paint that makes the painting look like an oil painting.

The popular images of goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati that most of us have grown up with were created by Raja Ravi Verma (1848-1906). What he also did was take art beyond the boundaries of palaces in the early 19th century to the drawing rooms and puja rooms of homes through his oleographs.

An oleograph is a print made with oil paint, and is made to look like an oil painting. Verma popularized this technique through his printing press in Mumbai (then Bombay), which he set up in 1892 to produce high-quality prints of his paintings. In the early 20th century, some oleographs made their way to Burma, where they were further embellished with embroidery and zardosi. The pieces with the zari work are the real collectables. The women of that period often used these works as a reference to find the color combinations in vogue. Each zari piece is unique as they cannot be exactly the same.

The pieces are self-explanatory. The use of fabric is very unique — it resonates with the aesthetic of those times and reflects on the fashion trends of that era.

This collection presents a rare opportunity for connoisseurs and collectors to see a rare collection of these zari work oleographs.