K. Venkatappa Biography 
K. Venkatappa was an artist from Mysore, known as a painter, sculptor and an exponent of veena. He was best known for his watercolors, with sensible realism and a pioneer of Ootacamund in watercolours (landscape of Ooty). He was one of the foremost disciples of Abanindranath Tagore. K. Venkatappa passed away in 1965, and 9 years later Government of Karnataka established an art gallery in Bangalore dedicated to him, and was named as Venkatappa Art Gallery, also referred to as the VAG.
Venkatappa was born into a family of painters, and many of its family members were court painters in Mysore Kingdom. A few of them were artists at Vijayanagaram empire during kings’ rule. Venkatappa learnt the art of painting at a very young age and also assisted his father at the palace of Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV. King noted his talents and arranged his studies at Government School of Art, Calcutta. He was a student of the art school during 1909 – 1916, where he got opportunity to learn under Abanindranath Tagore.
Though oil painting was trending then, he predominantly used water colour. Though he had opportunities to work in Shantiniketan, he distanced himself from Tagore and his other students, and worked in king’s court following family traditions. He preferred to remain as a simple court artisan at Mysore kingdom. Later he largely abandoned painting and took to Veena before he was rediscovered by James Cousins.
In 1926, Venkatappa began producing landscapes of Ooty, followed by landscapes of Kodaikanal in 1934. Venkatappa decided to start a painting school in Bangalore, and refused to sell his work after that. He also produced a series of bas reliefs for the Mysore Palace. He lived during the period 1886–1965.
Published: November 27, 2018
Updated: November 27, 2018
