Ganesh V. Shivaswamy

nias
Adjunct Professor
E-mail
svganesh@gmail.com
Department

Ganesh V. Shivaswamy is a lawyer from Bengaluru. His grand-father was Justice A. R. Somnath Iyer who was the Chief Justice of the High Court of Karnataka and the Acting Governor of Karnataka briefly in 1969. In addition to his profession, Ganesh has taken up the task of structuring the artistic legacy of Raja Ravi Varma.

In 2019 he established the Ganesh Shivaswamy Foundation, which immediately thereafter partnered with Google Arts and Culture. The platform was launched by Her Highness Shubhangini Raje, Rajamata Ji of Baroda in September of that year. In 2020, the Foundation showcased the largest collaborative exhibition of the artist’s work to celebrate 150 years since the commencement of Ravi Varma’s career.

Ganesh continues his research on Raja Ravi Varma and is the author of a six-volume book series, Raja Ravi Varma: An Everlasting Imprint which explores the social, religious and aesthetic impact of Ravi Varma’s images on the people of the Indian sub-continent and beyond. A team from the Critical Collective, New Delhi consisting of Gayatri Sinha, Mrinalini Vasudevan and Namrata Ghosh edited the books.

In March 2021, Ganesh was appointed the honorary curator of the new wing of the Sree Chitra Art Gallery, Thiruvananthapuram which is specifically dedicated to the works of Ravi Varma and associated artists. The new wing of the Sree Chitra Art Gallery was inaugurated on September 25, 2023 by the Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan. He is also the honorary curator of the museum at the Hasta Shilpa Heritage Village, Manipal.

Ganesh has extensively spoken on the artist’s legacy for the National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru; the Sir C. P. Ramaswamy Aiyer Art Foundation; Bangalore International Center; IGNCA, and Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU), Vadodara among others.

He seeks to explore the dynamics of inter-disciplinary learning as he has worked extensively in the fields of litigation and art academia.