Rajaiah does not seem to owe much, to any master, past or present, Indian or Foreign.  His gurus are the goldsmiths, the potters, the blacksmiths and the Nakashi doll makers among whom he lives at Siddipet. The anonymous unsophisticated Nakashi artists in particular have made a powerful impact on Rajaiah’s vision. He has perfected his technique by copying their dolls, murals and temple hangings which are genuinely traditional in their vision, inspiration and technique and yet contemporary in their appeal. The work these village artists paint has a painterly finesse in its colour schemes and compositions, though the range of their colours is limited to blues, yellows, reds and greens, the bold outline being in black. Woman offering Archana, Horses, Elephants, Tigers and decorative panels: These are the constantly recurring motifs. What strikes one most in the Nakashi art is its deceptive directness, which first seduced Rajaiah into artistic manipulation: He thought he could easily paint like the Nakashi artists but ended up by copying them! Whatever could be said in their style had already been exhausted by them and there was nothing left for Rajaiah. He says “I was then 10 or 12. I saw an elephant painted by a Nakashi and decided to become an artist. I was so struck by the warmth, sensuousness, directness and simplicity of what I saw. I copied this elephant many times. But my elephant was so different and so anemic, I have a cousin, older than I by ten years; his name is Nimbagiri, a drawing teacher. He used to encourage me in my copying work. Once, with a view to making dolls in the style of the Nakashi artists, I stole some clay from the potter, know to me, and began to play with it. But to no purpose. My interest in art, however, had by then overpowered me as an obsession. I had reached a point of no return, u see”.

Up to 1955, wash was Rajaiah’s favorite medium. This was folioed by tempera, then came water color and now it is oil. Tempera on hardboard with the cloth base was once his characteristic medium. This was the time when he used to dream of painting in the vigorous style of the Nakashi folk artists: His themes were all rural, the emphasis being on fairs, festivals, rituals and so on. The Nakashi paintings on the temple chariots and walls of houses have been the major influence on the development of Rajaiah’s genuinely folk idiom. The chief characteristics of his style, which is folk and, at the same time, is as personal as his signature, are: a very warm and sensuous palette, continuation of form and free and flowing line. There is not much of distortion, but there is stylization which cannot be divorced from primitive art. What is wrong with stylization, anyway, if it does not deteriorate into vapid, vacuous decoration? Rajaiah’s motifs are religious when they are not rural, and they provide abiding inspiration for him. That is why he finds Hyderabad, or, for that matter, any metropolis, stifling. He is a villager by birth, by orientation and by conviction.

What does he think of some of the pioneers of modern Indian Art? The Bengal School, for example? “I liked Nandalal Bose’s early work,” says Rajaiah: “He used to paint in the style of Ajanta, but he had something to say. I give you two examples: “The Veena Player and Parthasarathy (Krishna in role of Arjuna’s charioteer). The technique he adopted was wash, but the style was Ajanta. Very delicate and evocative. ”

by A.S. Raman

Lalit Kalaratna, Kala Vibhushana, Chitra Kala Prapoorna Dr. Kapu Rajaiah: Born on April 7, 1925 at Siddipet, in the district of Medak, Telangana, proudly claims him as one of its illustrious sons.   It is a small town, with a rich heritage in craftsmanship in traditional style.   His parents are very poor at the time of his birth.   Father Raghavulu is a petty grocer.   Has one son, Rajaiah and two daughters.   Mother was Bhulaxmi.   Both sisters are older than Rajaiah.   The future artist loses his father in his fourteenth year.   His second sister and mother take charge of his upbringing.  Mr.  Marka Chandrayya, a rich toddy-tapper and landlord, helps the family in a big way by providing work and shelter for the future artist’s destitute family.  He is in fact the savior of the family and whenever Rajaiah mentions him, there are tears in his eyes.  The Good Samaritan succeeds in putting young Rajaiah through his paces and, having done so much good to an indigent family, dies a happy man.  Even after the death of Chandrayya, grateful Rajaiah’s ties with his family remains as strong as ever before.  Rajaiah has his early schooling at Siddipet (Middle School).  Studies up to the Fourth Form.  In 1943 joins the Central School of Arts and Craft at Hyderabad, following the promptings of his own destiny.  Occupies a small rent free room behind his school, offered by the generous Principal, gets paddy from his village and does his own cooking, while his second sister sends him the school fee regularly.  In 1946, completes a three-year course.  Obtains the intermediate Certificate in Art.  Leaves the Central School to take up a drawing teacher’s job at Sangareddi, the headquarters of the Medak district.  In 1952, the fit is again on him, he rejoins the Art School at Hyderabad, puts in two years of hard work and obtains the diploma in painting.  Because of the Police Action and what follows, Rajaiah secures special exemption from the Hyderabad Art School which permits him to continue his studies.  The subjects he now takes up are: Composition and Painting and his teachers are Principal, Khan Bahadur Syed Ahmed and Jalaluddin.  Jalaluddin, a product of Bombay’s J.J.School of Art, with the discipline of 14 years of copying at Ajanta, is his class teacher.  Before Rajaiah rejoins the Hyderabad Art School in 1952, he has some minor triumphs to his credit.  In 1945, he obtains The Lower Group Certificate in drawing from the Madras Technical Education Department.  In 1947, the same examining body gives him a diploma in drawing.  In 1949, he gets a promotion and gets transferred to Siddipet High School where he worked as Senior Drawing Teacher.

The person really responsible for encouraging young Rajaiah to take a serious interest in art as a career is one Mr. P. Kuberudu who is now at Suryapeta. Kuberudu, Rajaiah’s drawing teacher in the sixth standard, is impressed by the strength of his pupil’s drawing and is keen that Rajaiah should pass the Bombay Intermediate Drawing Examination. Kuberudu pays the examination fee from his own pocket so that Rajaiah qualifies as drawing teacher at an early date for economic reasons. From elementary examination Rajaiah goes direct to the Intermediate examination in drawing under the inspiration of Kuberudu. He passes the examination in 1942 in his fifteenth year. Having achieved this, his ambitions soar higher, pastures become greener and horizons wider. Joins the Hyderabad Art School, as has been already mentioned. Here he has a rough time because of his crushing poverty. ”I was,” he recalls, “once expelled from the class, because I had no money to buy my materials. In the First Year Examination, I stood second in the class. My class teachers, Sarniker for Commercial Art, and Sampoorker and Shareef Saheb, would punish me for my poverty but praise me for my performances in the examinations. They were very proud of me. They used to insist that other should follow my example. Thus my poverty did not stand in the way of my devotion to my studies. ”Rajaiah now does banners and signboards, earns at the rate of four annas per hour and with this windfall buys the required art materials. In the Second Year, also, he stands second in class. In the government examination, at the end of the Third Year, he secures the first rank in a class of eleven or twelve students. In 1943 he obtains a scholarship of Rs. 5 per month from the Nizam’s Government: this is not given to him immediately after his admission to the school. Only six months later he receives it. Better late than never. This scholarship is awarded to him on compassionate grounds mainly on account of his poverty and also vaguely because of his performance in the examination. In 1945, at the All India Art Exhibition, Hyderabad, Rajaiah wins a prize for poster design in the Students’ Section. His proficiency in drawing and his training in Commercial Art at the Government School of Art are much in evidence in all his representative work. His line is firm and fluent, his palette, vivid and vibrant, and his design, terse and tidy. This of course does not mean that he has imbibed only the dubious virtues of applied art during his period of academic regimen. In fact his feeling for the folk idiom and his sense of personal emancipation, sustained by his rigorous training at the School of Art, have enabled him to achieve a unique blend of the creative vision and commercial mode. This in brief is a resume of Rajaiah’s early life and art schooling.Rajaiah has been painting seriously since 1949. And he has been exhibited and winning laurels since 1953. At the All India Art Exhibition, organized by the Hyderabad Art Society at Hyderabad in 1953, he receives the “Highly Commended “Certificate. Later, at the Alampur Exhibition in the same year, he wins the second prize. Since then he has won many highly covetable awards including several gold and silver medals at representative shows held in different parts of the country. The Government of Andhra Pradesh has conferred many honors and marks of distinction on him. What is more important, he has been the recipient of warm, deeply touching tributes from the common people who seem to have a direct rapport with him and his art. He is today The Founder-President of The Lalit Kala Samithi at Siddipet where he functions as the presiding deity of all worthwhile artistic activity. He has been the guardian angel of number of younger painters and sculptors. At Siddipet, he is the leader of vigorous group of artists, without ever interfering with their individual modes of expression.   He has been a very active member of Hyderabad Art Society as well as the Andhra Pradesh Lalit Kala Academy and The Osmania University Academic Council. He has just entered the General Council of the Central Lalit Kala Academy. His paintings can be seen in a number of prestigious collections, Indian and Foreign. In 1958, through sheer hard work and by dint of willpower, he passes the Higher Secondary Certificate Examination, just to improve his prospects in service. Indeed, he is a multifaceted genius. He writes verses and songs in Telugu and has been closely associated with the theatre at Siddipet.

April 7, 1925 - August 20, 2012