Ms. Kunju Lakshmi (1924 – July 2025)

Artist Shibu Natesan (born 1966)

dated 1997, Oil on canvas
13.5 x 11 in. (34.3 x 27.9 cm.)

This evocative portrait by Shibu Natesan depicts his elder aunt, Kunju Lakshmi, a former headmistress of Cotton Hill School in Trivandrum, who lived to the remarkable age of 101. Painted in 1997 during Natesan’s residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, the work is a compelling example of his “Critical Realism”—a style marked by photorealistic precision, conceptual depth, and emotional resonance. The composition is tightly cropped and frontal, focusing solely on Lakshmi’s face. Rendered in a near-monochromatic palette of deep greens and shadowy tones, the portrait conveys a quiet dignity and introspective presence that invites deep reflection on her life and experiences.

Natesan, a prominent contemporary Indian artist, is known for his technical mastery and intellectual approach to realism. A graduate of Trivandrum and Baroda, his early works, including this portrait, engaged with hyperrealism to critique issues such as migration, power, and the politics of representation. He often appropriated media and popular imagery, using photographic realism to question visual truth and narrative context. In recent years, his focus has shifted toward painterly, plein air landscapes and still lifes, influenced by European Impressionism. Despite this evolution, he continues to explore the expressive potential of painting. Natesan currently lives and works between London and Trivandrum.