This artist has 18 century books in his collections

You name any prominent book on music, art, dance and sharana literature published from any corner of the globe and he has it. For this 66-year-old artist L Shivalingappa, collecting literatures on different forms of art is more than a
passion. He has more than 6,500 rare books belonging to 18th and 19th century in English and Kannada languages.

What' amazing is that a majority of the rare books that adorn the shelves are imported from different. It even include ooks published more than a century ago. He quickly places orders for books penned by celebrated authors immediately
after he comes to know about its release.

Art Treasures of the world by Eleonor C Munro (1838, London); Practical Essay on Art by John Burnet (1888, New york); Modern German Art by Henry Ginsbury (1938), Contemporary British Art by Herber Read (1951); History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon by Vincent A Smith (1930) and Art of Century by Yannle Pichon (1989) are some of his prized possession. He has more than a hundred series of Walter T Foster's 'How to draw books'.

Shivalingappa has penned about 20 books related to Painting, Sculpture and Vachana Sahitya. He has also penned a book 'Art Developments in Karnataka' which includes the stages of development of art from the ancient period of rock work to modern painting.

Apart this, he has about 10,000 photography to his collections and has spent lakhs of rupees towards these collections. He has placed all his collection in a separate room called ?Mysore Art Gallery?.

The multifaceted Artist Shivalingappa is not only a writer and painter, but is equally good in sculpture, editing and writing features. He was the first from state to do sculpture works using sand castings, thermocole and PVC Pipes.

He has exhibited his paintings in State and National-level expos about 30 times from 1974 to 2008 and has dedicated his life in art and culture. He says, he needs the books for reference and also to gain inspiration. He has number of awards to his credit, to mention a few State Shilpa Kala Academy Award, State Lalithakala Academy, Karavali Samskruthika Suvarna Kannadiga Award, Basavasri, Kuvempusri, and much more.