‘The Forgotten Atelier’ chronicles the overlooked masters of Raja Ravi Varma’s era

When thinking of art in Kerala, the name that usually springs to mind is Raja Ravi Varma. But the region has a richer artistic heritage featuring everything from mural paintings to Deccani miniatures. Sharat Sunder Rajeev, whose first book on the ivory carving tradition of Travancore was published by the Kerala Council for Historical Research, opens up this world of durbar painters, female artists, and itinerant European masters in his new book The Forgotten Atelier (White Falcon Publishing). Excerpts from an email interview with Rajeev, who teaches at the Department of Architecture & Planning at the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram: