Admirer of Paul Raj Paintings

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Paul was born in Kodaikanal on 22 September 1914 and died on 2 October 1979. G D Arulraj was born in 1925 and died in June 1972 while visiting India. Arul worked at Laguna Beach in the 60's and 1970's. G D Thyagaraj might have been born in 1922 and I am told that he probably died sometime before 1981. He moved to northern India as a young man. I lived in India as a child and spent a lot of time in Calcutta. My mother purchased several paintings directly from Paul Raj while living in Madras and this got me interested in his works. I then discovered he had two brothers Arul Raj and Thyaga Raj who were both fantastic artists. I could not find much information on the internet so decided to set up my own blog. Subsequently a Facebook tribute site has also been created to the memory of the three brothers. Contact me at: rajbrothers@hotmail.co.uk

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

From INDIA Paintings by Arul Raj - How to Paint Book

I just remembered that a year or two back I purchased an older how to paint book written by Arul Raj.  The cover price was only $1.00 (the one below shows $2.00) and it was published by a USA firm called Walter T Foster.  I have reproduced the cover below.
In the introduction by Walter Foster he says. "While Gideon D Arul Raj was in the United States I was fortunate to meet him when he had the time to work on his book and I feel he has done a beautiful job of giving us all an understanding of how he works and the step drawings that are so helpful to beginners as well as the professional artist.  Raj lives in the Southern part of India out of Madras and he has caught the feel of the rural part of the country.  India is a fascinating country and I hope to go through there again with a much longer stay and many side trips into the hinterland to sketch and take many more color shots...."


Copies of the book frequently appear on Ebay in the USA and sell for a modest price, the book shows how to paint like Arul and the palette of colors he used.  Unfortunately the book is not dated so I am unsure when it was published as it seems at this time Arul was still living in Madras, India.  I know he later went to the USA and lived in Laguna Beach in California.
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4 comments:

  1. Sandeep Khedkar25 November 2009 at 07:53

    Thats a lovely cover painting.

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  2. Gold Finch25 November 2009 at 17:43

    Thanks Sandeep I have a very similar painting by Arul Raj which I will photograph and add to my blog in due course. It is a very large painting measuring 36 inches by 24 inches. It will cost be a fortune to get framed.

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  3. Anonymous13 October 2011 at 13:22

    Arul Raj visited Massapequa, Long Island in 1960 or so at the advice of a friend who lived in the town. He had a very short art show in the Parish Hall of Grace Episcopal Church. Being the daughter(10) of the rector there, I used to help him each morning setup his easels and tables for the show. When he left, he painted me a small painting of a sunset over water in India, as a small thank you gift. I still have it today and it is just incredibly beautiful, a real treasure.

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  4. Gold Finch18 October 2011 at 18:47

    Hello Alison. Many thanks for your interesting post, a great privilege to have met one of the brothers. Any chance of taking a photo of the painting and letting me add it to the blog?

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