Admirer of Paul Raj Paintings

My photo
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

Monday 2 July 2018

G D Thyagaraj - Cooking on the boat

I just purchased this nice water scene by Thyagaraj two weeks ago, it was selling on Ebay. Got it for a very reasonable price.
I will take some better photos when I remove it from the frame as the frame needs to be glued a little.  It has a sticker on the back saying it was framed in Park Street in Calcutta, where I lived between 1957 and 1974 (off and on). Hope you like it.

Tuesday 17 April 2018

G D Paulraj - Family on a boat

This is a fairly unusual painting by Paulraj showing a family on a boat being punted by use of a long pole down a stream or canal.  The father is working the boat while the mother is taking care of a small child and two goats are roaming the deck.  Quite a fun composition.
I do not remember seeing a Paulraj goat before.

Friday 30 March 2018

G D Thyagaraj - Collecting the catch

I have been sent a photo by Stan of a great painting by Thyagaraj of a scene showing women with large baskets on their heads carrying fish aware from the boats on the beach.  This was recently acquired by Stan in Vancouver. Nice find and very intense colours.  Thanks again Stan for sharing your photos.
And another of his signature.

Monday 26 February 2018

G D Thyagaraj - Trees

Another painting by Thyagaraj sold in February 2018 for around £95.00 (or 133 US dollars) again well worth the money.

G D Thyagaraj - Cart Convoy

Great watercolour by Thyagaraj of a cart convoy recently sold on an internet auction site for around £110 (or 152 US dollars) well worth the money and nicely framed.
Very nice painting.

Tuesday 23 January 2018

Water carriers cine - Early 1959

Today I am adding another extract from the 1959 cine this on shows three ladies filling their very large brass water pots from an outside tap.





Then a 45 second cine extract which is 22.8 Megabytes in size.

Monday 22 January 2018

G D Paulraj - Ladies doing the dhobi

Painting by G D Paulraj today shows a group of women doing the dhobi in a stream.  Similar to the cine films I added recently.

Dhobi cine taken in 1959

More extracts from my family cine film taken in 1959.  There are two different clips of dhobis at work one taken at a stream and the second at the beach.




These scenes match several paintings painted by G D Paulraj.

Fishermen cine taken in 1959

Today I am adding some clips from a cine showing some fishermen hauling in their nets in at Vizagapatnam on the east coast of India taken in early 1959.  I have added the sounds of the waves as the camera did not record any sound.
 Women waiting to collect the catch and carry it off in their baskets to sell.
 Women trying to sell fish on the beach with huge baskets carried on their heads.
Hauling in the nets up onto the beach.
Short cine film lasting 39 seconds showing the fishermen hauling in their nets and a crowd watching.