Rukmini Varma Paintings

Rukmini Varma, born Bharani Tirunal Rukmini Bayi, Princess of Travancore, comes from an illustrious tradition of art. Her great great grandfather, Raja Ravi Varma, is considered the Father of Modern Art in India. Her grandmother, the last Maharani of Travancore, was a patron of many artists, while her father trained under court painters in the 1940s. Rukmini never studied art formally but developed her own style of realist painting through the 1960s, inspired by Rembrandt, Caravaggio and the grand masters of the European tradition. In 1970 she held her first exhibition, sponsored by a private collector, in Bangalore, which was a great success. In 1973 her second solo show was opened in Bangalore by the Governor of the State of Karnataka, where 34 of 39 paintings exhibited were sold within days. In 1974 her third solo show was opened at the Lalit Kala Academy in Delhi by the President of India, and in 1975 she had her first international exhibition in Germany, followed by her fifth show in London at India House, opened by Lord Mountbatten. In 1981 and 1982 she held her final exhibitions at the Taj and Jehangir Galleries in Bombay, where newspapers described a 'stampede' to view her paintings. In the early 1980s Rukmini became famous for painting nudes in mythological Indian settings. Throughout that decade she painted a number of nudes through her Pratiksha Series, all of which were purchased by collectors abroad, and never exhibited owing to fears of a backlash from the orthodoxy. Since her son's death in 1988, Rukmini has been living as a recluse, painting for a select group of private collectors, with no subsequent public exhibitions. She paints grand canvases, with sumptous colours and grand settings, with women being a central theme and subject in her works. Despite her self-imposed exile from art circles, Rukmini's paintings today hang in major collections across the world. (ArtSlant) 

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Nala Damayanthi Early 1980s

The Rape of Rambha
Early 1980s

Mother and Child from the Flesh & Gems Series
Late 1970s

Mohini and Bhamasura

Jan Dobkowski Art

Dobkowski completed the Secondary School of Art in Warsaw, and in 1962, he took up studies at the Department of Painting in Warsaw's Academy of Fine Arts. He was the student of professor Juliusz Studnicki and Jan Cybis. He completed his diploma piece under Cybis in 1968.

Jan Dobkowski has been presented with the award of the Minister of Culture and Art for his popularization of artistic creativity (1970), and was also a recipient of  Kościuszko Foundation scholarship in New York (1972). In 1970, he received a gold medal and an award at the symposium of Gold Recame in Zielona Góra. In 1978, he was presented with th Cyprian Norwid award of art critics,  for the best exhibition of the year. In 1994, Dobkowski he was honoured with life achievement award of Jan Cybis.
   
The works of  Dobkowski can be found in numerous collections, among them those of the Art Museum in Łódź , the National Museum in Warsaw, the National Museum in Wrocław, the National Museum in Poznań, and at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. His paintings are also in private collections  in Poland, Sweden, Denmark, the USA, Switzerland, and France. (Culture.pl)

Rysunek (1999)

Naczynia połączone, 1971

Eternal Mother, 1972

Irina Ionesco Photography

Selfportrait by Irina Ionesco, 1979

Irina Ionesco (born on September 3, 1935) is a French photographer born in Paris, France. She was the daughter of Romanian immigrants. She spent her childhood years in Constanţa, Romania before she moved to Paris. She traveled and painted for several years before discovering photography. Her work is described as erotic.
In 1974 she exhibited some of her work at the Nikon Gallery in Paris and attracted lots of attention. She was soon published in numerous magazines, books, and featured at galleries across the globe.
Irina Ionesco is perhaps most famous for her photographs showcasing her young daughter, Eva. The nudes she created with Eva stirred major controversy, as many were shot showcasing the young girl in artsy, erotic situations similar to the work she did with her other, much older subjects.
A major part of Irina's work features lavishly dressed women, decked out in jewels, gloves, and other finery, but also adorning themselves with symbolic pieces such as chokers and other fetishistic props, posing provocatively, offering themselves partially disrobed as objects of sexual possession. (Wiki)

Eva aux Roses

Eva in Treville (1991)

Isabelle Adjani 

Eva

By Irina Ionesco

The House Is Black (1963)

The House Is Black (1963)
"Khaneh siah ast" (original title)
20 min  -  Documentary | Short

Director: Forugh Farrokhzad
Writer: Forugh Farrokhzad
Stars: Forugh Farrokhzad, Ebrahim Golestan, Hossein Mansouri

Country: Iran
Language: Persian


Within a short life span of 32 years, she became the paramount controversial modernist poet in Iran and the auteur of a short documentary lasting 20 minutes for which Jonathan Rosenbaum quoted it as  the greatest of all Iranian films (and certainly it is !!!). Her name is Forugh Farrokhzad and the documentary is "The House is Black".

Forough made this astounding work at the age of 27 and its her only work in motion picture genre. She traveled to Tabriz for twelve days and captured the life inside a leprosarium. The film starts with a male voice-over "There is no shortage of ugliness in the world. If man closed his eyes to it, there would be even more". She is becoming presumptuous from the first visual of a woman's reflection on a mirror and she is deformed because of leprosy.
The most horrendous fact about leprosy is not death, its the after life when the disease is cured. The destitute victims were coerced (by themselves- this includes a subtext of its political and social conditions) to find their future in an ultimate virtual world, like world of God. Forough is showing this before our eyes through stunning juxtaposing of images; we can see that photographic touch in her visuals, still lives are  shown with such a lightning brilliance. No viewer can forget the scene of a lonely man walking and saying "Monday, Tuesday...." and she broke its continuum by stitching still images and distorted faces. The ugliness is fixed no matter how the days are passing. Its molded onto their bodies and showing the transformation of a human to an object.
Forough's camera is capturing not the weeping faces of members of leprosarium but the emotionless/ happy ones/children playing/festivals. She clearly knew it can enter the viewers mind so deeply than any propaganda film and its unfathomable.
We can see similar visuals in Kamran Shirdel 's Nedamatgah (1965) which is also a short documentary that shows the life of women in a penitentiary but i love to compare "The House is Black" to Alexandra Gulea's documentary God plays sax, the Devil violin (2004). In both of these docus we can see the outstanding photographic impact. Kamral Shirdel's movie lacks it.

Thangka Paintings

The word thangka comes from the Tibetan thang yig, which mean “annals” or “written record.” The ending yig, which means, “letter” and carries the sense of “written,” is replaced by the ordinary substantive ending ka. Thus the word thangka has the sense of a record.
The main source of the Tibetan art that has flourished since then is the iconographical art of India with strong influences from China and Persia. Thangkas or scroll paintings were, from the first, religious in nature. The first thangka originated in India and depicted the Wheel of Life, a sort of diagram showing the world of samsara and how to get out of it.
Thangkas communicate a message to the practitioner, serving as an aid to teaching and as an aid to meditation through the visualization of the deity.These thangka served as important teaching tools depicting the life of the Buddha, various influential lamas and other deities and Bodhisattvas.The Buddhist Vajrayana practitioner uses a thanga image of their yidam, or meditation deity, as a guide, by visualizing “themselves as being that deity, thereby internalizing the Buddha qualities". On a deeper level thangka paintings are the visual expression of the fully awakened state of enlightenment, this being the ultimate goal of the Buddhist spiritual path. That's why a thangka is sometimes called 'the roadmap to enlightenment'. Thangka is a Nepalese art form exported to Tibet after Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal, daughter of King Lichchavi, married Songtsän Gampo, the ruler of Tibet imported the images of Aryawalokirteshwar and other Nepalese deities to Tibet.History of thangka Paintings in Nepal began in 11th century A.D. when Buddhists and Hindus began to make illustration of the deities and natural scenes. Historically, Tibetan and Chinese influence in Nepalese paintings is quite evident in Paubhas (The Tibetan equivalent is known as Thangka.).
From the fifteenth century onwards, brighter colours gradually began to appear in Nepalese.Thanka / Thangka. Because of the growing importance of the Tantric cult, various aspects of Shiva and Shakti were painted in conventional poses. Mahakala, Manjushri, Lokeshwara and other deities were equally popular and so were also frequently represented in Thanka / Thangka paintings of later dates. As Tantrism embodies the ideas of esoteric power, magic forces, and a great variety of symbols, strong emphasis is laid on the female element and sexuality in the paintings of that period.

Vajrabhairava (Yamantaka)
Year: 1740

Yamāntaka is seen as a wrathful manifestation of Mañjuśrī, the bodhisattva of wisdom, and in other contexts functions as a dharmapala, or 'Dharma-protector'.

Guru Orgyen Dorje Chang
One of the eight manifestations
of  Padmasambhava 

 Orgyen Dorje Chang is in sambhogakaya form, with its specific ornaments; holding vajra and bell and his legs in full vajra posture, he embraces white Vajravarahi.

Palden Lhamo (Shri Devi)

Palden Lhamo (Shri Devi) is a protecting Dharmapala of the teachings of Gautama Buddha in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. She is the wrathful deity considered to be the principal Protectress of Tibet.

Vajrayogini
Eastern Tibet, 19th century, mineral pigment on cotton.

Vajrayoginī is a ḍākiṇī and a Vajrayāna Buddhist meditation deity. As such she is considered to be a female Buddha.She is a Highest Yoga Tantra Yidam (Skt. Iṣṭha-deva(tā)), and her practice includes methods for preventing ordinary death, intermediate state (bardo) and rebirth (by transforming them into paths to enlightenment), and for transforming all mundane daily experiences into higher spiritual paths.

Vajravarahi (Dorje Pakmo)

Vajravarahi is one of the female Buddha forms, also known as Vajradakini (Diamond Skywalker) or Vajrayogini (Diamond Spiritual Athlete). These female archetype deities symbolically illustrate the Buddhist insight that enlightenment is beyond all sexual identity.Vajravarahi, literally the Adamantine Sow, is the consort of Chakrasamvara, the presiding deity of the Samvaratantra. A sow's head can be seen projecting from the apex of her crown of skull. The three-eyed, red Vajravarahi stands in a dancing pose with one foot on a figure lying on its back, and with her right leg raised and suspended in the air in an awesome posture. Although an animal skin wraps her hips and thighs, she appears naked. Apart from various jewelry she also wears a garland of severed human heads. She wears gold earrings, and fine bone ornaments adorn her body. The swaying strands of her ornaments reinforce the movements of her body and conjure the tinkling sounds of bone and bell that accompany her dramatic dance.

Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi Embracing
1575–1600
Nepal

This powerful depiction of the twelve-armed Chakrasamvara embracing his consort Vajravarahi depicts a highly charged vision by an advanced tantric master. Potent color dynamics add tension to the picture. The blue figure of Chakrasamvara has additional heads in yellow, green, and red (symbolizing the colors of the Jina “Victor” Buddhas). This is one of few Nepalese paintings to evoke so completely the energy of physical union as an expression of knowledge and method coming together to achieve enlightenment. Chakrasamvara is associated with both Heruka and Hevajra, and his iconography closely resembles that of Shiva (both have three eyes and hold a skull cup, trident, and elephant skin). Such concordance of Buddhist and Hindu iconography is not unusual and has its origins in tantrism of medieval eastern India. Here, Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi together trample a blue Bhairava and a red Kalartri, showing their dominance over these Hindu gods.

Chakrasamvara is a highly revered yidam (personal mentor deity) in Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism. He has four heads and twelve arms, two of which embrace his consort Vajravarahi. Both figures hold objects that symbolize the transformative powers of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism. In one of his six left hands, Chakrasamvara wields a noose to harness all ego and negativity that prevent progress toward enlightenment. In one of his right hands, he holds a long-handled ax to sever the root of ignorance that generates negativity. In her right hand, Vajravarahi grasps a chopper, an implement that represents "wisdom-consciousness" and that symbolically cuts defilement and disillusionment at the root.

Samantabhadra

A very clearly and impressively painted Thangka representation of the Adi Buddha Samantabhadra. He shows himself united in YabYum with his Prajna Samantabhadri and is surrounded by an aureole of flowers and fruits.

Samantabhadra (Sanskrit: समन्तभद्र; literally Universal Worthy), is a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with Buddhist practice and meditation. Together with Shakyamuni Buddha and fellow bodhisattva Manjusri he forms the Shakyamuni trinity in Buddhism.In the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayana, Samantabhadra is considered a primordial Buddha in indivisible yab-yum union with his consort Samantabhadri.

Grarbhakosa Mandala (Womb Realm)

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi Art

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (30 April 1839 – 9 June 1892) was a Japanese artist. He is widely recognized as the last great master of the ukiyo-e genre of woodblock printing and painting. He is also regarded as one of the form's greatest innovators.

holding back the night
with its increasing brilliance
the summer moon
– Yoshitoshi's death poem

“Oshu adachigahara hitotsuya no zu”
(The Lonely House on Adachi Moor) - 1885

From the set Thirty-two Aspects of Women
published by Tsunashima Kamekichi, 1888.

Byokansaku Yōyu (Yang Hsiung)
Stabbing a pregnant woman (1868)

Inada Kyûzô Shinsuke (1866)
From "Twenty-Eight Famous Murders with Verse "

Bodhidharma (1887)

Narihira and Nijo no Tsubone at the Fuji River

Kaidomaru and Yamauba (1873)

Han Sai Por Sculptures

Han Sai Por is a Singaporean sculptor. Han has participated in exhibitions locally and abroad, including events in China, Denmark, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and South Korea. Her sculptures can be found around the world, in Osaka and Shōdoshima, Kagawa Prefecture, in Japan; Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak in Malaysia; and Washington, D.C. Han is probably best known for her stone sculptures with organic forms, examples of which include Growth (1985), Spirit of Nature (1988), Object C (1992) and Seeds (2006). For her contributions to art, Han was conferred the Cultural Medallion for Art in 1995. She was also the winner of the sculpture and painting section at the 11th Triennale – India organized by the Lalit Kala Akademi (National Academy of Art of India) in 2005, and the Outstanding City Sculpture Award in China the following year.

Flora Inspiration (2007)  (Flora Series)

Flora Inspiration (2007) at Changi Airport, Singapore
Flora Series

Flora