Three lakh rupees and a Kanayi Kunhiraman sculpture: Kerala's top honour in visual art

Background

The Raja Ravi Varma Puraskaram is the highest honour the Kerala Government gives in the field of visual art. It carries three lakh rupees, a citation and a sculpture designed by Kanayi Kunhiraman. The award is named for Raja Ravi Varma, the painter whom the Minister called a byword for art in the Indian mind. Two years' awards have now been announced together — the painter C. Douglas, of the Madras art movement, for 2023 and the sculptor N.N. Rimzon for 2024. Separate juries of senior artists, each with the Akademi secretary in charge as member secretary, chose the two. The jury that picked Douglas pointed to his long and experimental work in contemporary Indian painting. The announcement was made by the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Cinema at a press conference in the PR Chamber at Thiruvananthapuram.