EMBELLISHED VISHNU OLEOGRAPH

This grand Oleograph is of Lord Vishnu by V.H. Pandya from his original painting made in 1920, published by Shree Vasudev Pictures Bombay, but this would have been reproduced in Germany. This Oleograph has been embellished with beautiful fabric and zari. As per Hindu Mythology, Lord Vishnu is revered as the Preserver of the universe and is one of the principal deities of Hindu Trinity along with Lord Shiva and Brahma.  Lakshmi, the goddess of good fortune is his consort. Vishnu as per Hindu iconography carries a Lotus, mace, conch and a discus (Sudarshana Chakra). Garuda, the king of birds is his mount.

Vishnu is believed to have ten incarnations on Earth, taken to protect dharma and maintain cosmic harmony. Of the ten, he has already appeared in nine avatars.  His final avatar of Kalki is expected to bring in the end of the world and usher in a new age.

Oleography or Chromolithography is a unique technique used for making colour prints. This particular technique evolved from Lithography – which is basically a method of printing using a stone.

The method of Oleography uses multiple stones - a separate stone for each colour and included printing one colour over another. It was widely used for commercial purposes and was the most popular method for colour printing till the end of the 19th century. Oleo in Latin means Oil. This technique used oil that gave the prints better quality. It is a chemical process based on rejection of oil by water. Depending on the number of colours present in the picture, skilled workers took months to complete a single Oleograph.  In the 19th century, Oleographs became so popular in the United States that the Era was named as ‘Chromo Civilisation’. They were widely used everywhere – children’s books, advertising art, posters, labels etc.

While Oleographs started losing their popularity by the end of the 19th century in the West, they started becoming popular in India. This can be completely attributed to India’s first modern artist, Raja Ravi Varma.