Ravishankar Raval
| Ravishankar Raval | |
|---|---|
Kalaguru Ravishankar Raval
|
|
| Born |
1 August 1892 Bhavnagar, Gujarat |
| Died |
9 December 1977 Ahmedabad, Gujarat |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater | Sir J. J. School of Art |
| Occupation | painter, art critic, journalist, essayist |
| Spouse(s) | Ramaben |
| Children | Narendra, Gajendra, Kanak |
| Awards |
|
Ravishankar Raval (1892–1977) was a painter, art teacher, art critic, journalist and essayist from Gujarat, India. He worked for the magazine Vismi Sadi until it closed in 1921, and then founded the cultural magazine Kumar.
Ravishankar Raval was born on 1 August 1892 in Bhavnagar (now in Gujarat, 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 professor Sanjana who was pleased with his artistic skills. Against his fathers non-approval, he joined Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay. He was trained under Cecil Burns, the principal of J. J. School.
He joined Oriental art movement inspired by Indian classical traditions sacrificing his career as portrait painter. In the spirit of cultural nationalism, he held on to these ideas, despite harsh criticism such as ther Rajput-art-style painting 'Bilwamangal' for which he won the Bombay Art Society gold medal was dismissed by a Parsi artist as 'a printed label on mill cloth'. He received Mayo Gold Medal at Sir J. J. School of Art in 1916.
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 Kumar 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'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 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's university, Santiniketan 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 at his Kulu art center as the house guest. He participated in All India Art Conference at Calcutta in 1951. He went on art tour to Soviet Russia in 1952.
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