Hyderabad | July 03, 2005 9:42:13 AM IST
Hyderabad, July 3 : Usha Rani Damerla, a young woman painter of Andhra Pradesh, is seeking to rekindle the tradition of grandfather Damerla Rama Rao, a doyen of modern Andhra art.
Usha, a graduate in English, economic and political science, is beginning where her grandfather completed his astonishingly talented span. She exhibited her first collection a month before she turns 28 while her grandfather had died at the same age in 1925 after immense contributions to the revival of Andhra art.
After initially trying to combine painting and work, Usha quit her job with a mobile telephone firm to do what she likes the most. Naturally, her inspiration has been her late grandfather.
And she is encouraged by the response to her first exhibition that began here Friday.
Usha began painting when she was just three years old. Although she never saw her grandfather, the gallery in Rajhamundry dedicated to Damera Rama Rao helped her to get an insight into his masterpieces.
"I learnt more about his work and life from his sister who herself was a good painter," Usha told IANS.
The works of Damerla Rama Rao and his sister Krishnamma, their real life portraits, mythological depictions and landscapes are recognised as some of the finest works of art ever produced in India.
In 1916, Sisil N. Burns, the then dean of arts in Mumbai School of Arts, was so impressed by the sketches of Rama Rao that he admitted him directly into the third year of fine arts course.
His works were also exhibited in an exhibition organised by Oriental Society. The Viceroy of India award was conferred on him and Viceroy Lord Reeding bought his paintings.
Having grown up in the culturally rich town of Rajhamundry, surrounded by original wall hangings of these doyens as family heirlooms, Usha can rightfully claim that art is in her genes. A nature lover, she has made a beginning with an attempt to portray nature's aesthetics. The flowers adorning Usha's canvases encompass a wide range of emotions - from the winsome and cheerful to the lamenting and forlorn.
Influenced by Vincent Van Gogh, Usha uses dark colours a lot.
Her firs series has plenty of flowers, and Usha explains why: "Flowers are the most beautiful and mysterious aspect of creation. They remind us that their life is short and they are going to wither soon. They are reminders of mortal life and also its timelessness."
Why did it take so long to begin a career as painter?
Usha said coming from an ordinary middle class family she was looking for a secure job for financial and emotional backing. "I knew the kind of problems an artists faces. It is an expensive affair and encouragement from surrounds matters more.
"The family wanted me to do both things simultaneously - job and painting.
But I realised that after a day's hard work it is not possible to paint.
"I have not taking up painting to make money. It is basically to express me out to world and share my feelings."
Hyderabad, July 3 : Usha Rani Damerla, a young woman painter of Andhra Pradesh, is seeking to rekindle the tradition of grandfather Damerla Rama Rao, a doyen of modern Andhra art.
Usha, a graduate in English, economic and political science, is beginning where her grandfather completed his astonishingly talented span. She exhibited her first collection a month before she turns 28 while her grandfather had died at the same age in 1925 after immense contributions to the revival of Andhra art.
After initially trying to combine painting and work, Usha quit her job with a mobile telephone firm to do what she likes the most. Naturally, her inspiration has been her late grandfather.
And she is encouraged by the response to her first exhibition that began here Friday.
Usha began painting when she was just three years old. Although she never saw her grandfather, the gallery in Rajhamundry dedicated to Damera Rama Rao helped her to get an insight into his masterpieces.
"I learnt more about his work and life from his sister who herself was a good painter," Usha told IANS.
The works of Damerla Rama Rao and his sister Krishnamma, their real life portraits, mythological depictions and landscapes are recognised as some of the finest works of art ever produced in India.
In 1916, Sisil N. Burns, the then dean of arts in Mumbai School of Arts, was so impressed by the sketches of Rama Rao that he admitted him directly into the third year of fine arts course.
His works were also exhibited in an exhibition organised by Oriental Society. The Viceroy of India award was conferred on him and Viceroy Lord Reeding bought his paintings.
Having grown up in the culturally rich town of Rajhamundry, surrounded by original wall hangings of these doyens as family heirlooms, Usha can rightfully claim that art is in her genes. A nature lover, she has made a beginning with an attempt to portray nature's aesthetics. The flowers adorning Usha's canvases encompass a wide range of emotions - from the winsome and cheerful to the lamenting and forlorn.
Influenced by Vincent Van Gogh, Usha uses dark colours a lot.
Her firs series has plenty of flowers, and Usha explains why: "Flowers are the most beautiful and mysterious aspect of creation. They remind us that their life is short and they are going to wither soon. They are reminders of mortal life and also its timelessness."
Why did it take so long to begin a career as painter?
Usha said coming from an ordinary middle class family she was looking for a secure job for financial and emotional backing. "I knew the kind of problems an artists faces. It is an expensive affair and encouragement from surrounds matters more.
"The family wanted me to do both things simultaneously - job and painting.
But I realised that after a day's hard work it is not possible to paint.
"I have not taking up painting to make money. It is basically to express me out to world and share my feelings."
(IANS)
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