The most popular realist after Raja Ravi Varma

At Saffronart’s Spring Live Auction of Modern Indian Art on 6 April 2022, a unique jugalbandi (duet) of artworks was seen. Two similar-themed works, with almost similar treatment and style of execution, were up for auction. One was Draupadi Vastraharan by Raja Ravi Varma, and another was Untitled (Draupadi Vastraharan) by MV Dhurandhar. Both were sold for more than their estimates; the former fetching Rs 21.60 crore ($2.8 million) and the latter selling for Rs 8.04 crore ($1.07 million).

Both works are supreme examples of Indian academic realism, a unique genre of art style that was born when Indian artists, educated in western academic realism, Indianised their craft by creating oil paintings on purely Indian subjects. Oil painting, as many would be surprised to know, was a colonial introduction in India.

Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906), considered the first modern Indian artist and one of India’s nine National Treasure artists, pioneered this genre of Indian art, bringing alive the vast pantheon of Hindu gods and goddesses on canvas, as also mythological figures and their stories that enjoyed pan-India popularity.

In this Indian style of academic realism, Mahadev Vishwanath Dhurandhar (1867-1944) was a master par excellence, and considered second only to his artistic forebear, Raja Ravi Varma. In fact, Dhurandhar became in his lifetime the second most popular Indian artist of academic realism, after Varma, and even worked at the latter’s Raja Ravi Varma press in then Bombay, which was later shifted to Malavli near Lonavla.

The story goes that Dhurandhar was inspired by Varma and got to meet him at the eighth exhibition of the Bombay Art Society in 1896, where one of his paintings was being exhibited. Varma immensely like Dhurandhar’s painting, The Music Lesson, and bought it. This meeting developed into a stronger association between the two when Varma invited Dhurandhar to make works for his printing press.

Their works, however, were very different from each other’s; while Varma’s colours were more saturated and stylization was rather robust, Dhurandhar’s colours were more translucent with figures tending to be fairer and differently stylized than Varma’s.

A Popular Artist ofAcademic Realism

I have chosen to talk about MV Dhurandhar in the column this week, as today—June 1—is his death anniversary, and an appropriate moment to remember a stalwart of modern Indian art, who unfortunately has little or no recall among the vast art-loving masses of the country.

Dhurandhar is remembered for his prolific art output in the genre of academic realism. In fact, most artists of Dhurandhar’s generations painted in academic realism because that was the curriculum of British-run art schools of the country. However, Varma showed the way to individuate the genre with remarkable Indianness. Following Varma, it was Dhurandhar’s portrayal of Indian life—both of the gods and mortals—that became popular with the art loving classes of Bombay.

Dhurandhar, born on March 18, 1867, and brought up in Kolhapur, was inspired by his fellow townsman and renowned painter of the times, Abalal Rahiman, who had studied at Bombay’s Sir JJ School of Art. Dhurandhar too followed in Rahiman’s footsteps and joined JJ. His exceptional skills brought him under the spotlight of the school authorities. The vice principal, E Greenwood, secured a scholarship for Dhurandhar to support him financially as both his parents had passed away and also permitted him to participate in the prestigious Bombay Art Society’s annual exhibition in 1892, while still a student. Dhurandhar’s charcoal painting, Household Work, won him an award, making him the first Indian to win a prize from the prestigious society. He went on to win several prizes during his term at the school, finally winning the Bombay Art Society’s coveted gold medal for his painting, Do You Come Laxmi? in 1895.

Soon upon graduating, he was appointed a teacher at JJ on a temporary assignment. He would, however, go on to spend his entire career at JJ, becoming a master at the painting department, an inspector of drawing, and eventually, director of the school in 1930, becoming the first Indian to hold this post.

Throughout his time at the school, Dhurandhar continued to paint prolifically as a private individual too, making commissioned illustrations for books, periodicals, magazines, calendars, advertisements, postcards, and more. In fact, his postcards featuring the common folk of Bombay became highly popular. Some of the books that he made illustrations for include Percival and Olivia Strip’s The Peoples of Bombay, SM Edwardes’ By-Ways of Bombay, and Edward Fitzgerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, among others. Even after retiring from Sir JJ School of Art, he continued to paint prolifically, including paintings for royal commissions. His continued and vast output throughout his life is proof of the demand for his work, amongst royals, authors, tourists, as well as common folk who bought pictures of gods and goddesses for worship or general paintings to decorate their homes.

Another important genre that developed during his time and of which he became a significant proponent, was that of outdoor landscape painting. A new genre, it reached India through western inspiration and caught the imagination of artists in western India, especially in the late 19th century. Chief practitioners of this genre, besides Dhurandhar, were Abalal Rahiman, SL Haldankar, MK Parandekar, and NR Sardesai, among other artists. Dhurandhar passed away on June 1, 1944, in Bombay.

Dhurandhar at the auctions

The aforementioned work by Dhurandhar—Untitled (Draupadi Vastraharan), remains the most expensive work by the artist sold at auctions in recent memory. A 1934 oil on canvas—a late career work, made by the artist after retiring from Sir JJ School of Art—this painting was estimated at Rs 4 crore – Rs 6 crore ($533,335 - $800,000) but was sold for Rs 8.04 crore ($1.07 million). It hailed from the suite of paintings commissioned by the royal family of Chhota Udaipur, Gujarat.

The year of this sale, 2022, saw a few other Dhurandhar canvases crossing the Rs 1 crore mark. At Saffronart’s Evening Sale on 17 September 2022, an Untitled landscape by Dhurandhar sold for Rs 4.80 crore ($603,774) against an estimate of Rs 3 crore – Rs 5 crore. Again, at Saffronart’s Winter Online Auction, 14-15 December 2022, Dhurandhar’s Untitled (Vishnu) fetched Rs 1.56 crore ($190,244) against an estimate of Rs 1.5 crore – Rs 2 crore.

The fact that Dhurandhar was as adept at oils as at watercolours, and as dexterous with colours as with monochromes is evident in a black-and-white watercolour work featuring a modern Bombay couple taking a walk by the beach, which sold for Rs 9.60 lakh ($12,886) at a Saffronart auction on 15 December 2021. Its most significant feature is how he captured the liveliness of a public place with all its colours and sounds in a black-grey-white palette.

Among other notable sales of Dhurandhar’s works include a suite of 20 watercolours depicting scenes of Bombay, created circa 1900, which sold at a Sotheby’s auction on 25 October 2017 for £87,500 (approx. Rs 92.81 lakh at current exchange rates). It fetched far higher than its estimate of £20,000 – £30,000 (approx. Rs 21.21 lakh – Rs 31.82 lakh at current rates). It’s a charming collection of paintings featuring scenes of common life such as women working at a stone grinder, a woman pushing a baby stroller by the beach, men unloading sacks from a bullock cart, etc.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based senior journalist, columnist, and a commentator on art, books, market, society, and more)