The Ravi Varma Press

Bear-Leader (Darweshi)

Bear-Leader (Darweshi)

A very early lithographed card by Paul Gerhardt, who ran the lithographic printers at the Ravi Varma Press.

Sent to Miss Ettoi Virmillion, 52 West & South, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, via San Francisco: [Recto] "Bombay 22 March 1905. Very bare. Will"

Mohini

Mohini

[Original caption] The Goddess of beauty sitting on a swing [end]

This image by Ravi Varma was one of his most successful in calendar art. Shown here she is perfect and ordinary, ideal yet accessible.

Sita-Vanvas

Sita-Vanvas

[Original caption] Sita Vanawasa :– Sita, when captured by Ravan, the king of Lanka, was carried and kept in a forest named "Ashok-van" by him, and he ordered demons to watch her. This picture represents that Sita sat thinking under a tree. [end]

Tanjore dancing girl

Tanjore dancing girl

Among the first series of postcards printed in India by The Ravi Varma Press, this lithograph by the German artist at the Press, Paul Gerhardt, shows how in these very early days, placing the title was not quite fixed by convention, It could easily

Native Street

Native Street

Unlike many photographic postcards that emphasized the crowded nature of Bombay bazaars at the turn of the century, Gerhardt opens up the foreground in this painted depiction to create a more spacious and effect.

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