Ram Kumar

Ram Kumar, whose ever-evolving style ranged from figuration to abstraction, is one of the great artists of post-independence India. Born in Simla in 1924, Kumar later moved to New Delhi, where he studied art under the tutelage of Sailoz Mookherjea. In 1950, he left for Paris and continued his studies with the great masters André Lhote and Fernand Léger. Like his contemporaries Sayed Haider Raza and Francis Newton Souza, Kumar was struck by a desire for global success yet retained his need to preserve a close connection to his homeland; while European styles influenced his art, his subject matter remained distinctly Indian.

His figurative works from the 1950s, rendered in muted tones, are largely devoid of any recognizable characters, as figures are presented without emotive facial features or defined backdrops. These paintings speak to the despair and desolation experienced in India due to the unrealized promises of a better life after independence. Reflecting a sense of vulnerability and isolation, Ram Kumar often depicted urban dwellers who felt constrained by the city. “Though I wasn't directly involved with the rehabilitation of people who had come from Pakistan during Partition, I was involved in some way with the refugee settlements in Karol Bagh and that definitely affected me,” the artist recounts. (The Hindu, Friday Review, Delhi, 17 December 2010)

Kumar's landscapes mark a significant shift in his work, from his post-Paris figurative phase to the world of abstraction. In the winter of 1960, Ram Kumar visited the holy city of Varanasi (or Benares) which prompted this important change to his painterly style. Seeking to capture the haunted nature of his experience, the artist moved away from semi-figurative works and started to paint a series of landscapes lacking identifiable features or human forms.

Hindus believe that death or cremation in the holy city of Varanasi leads to liberation, rather than rebirth in another form, and in some ways these sentiments are reflected in the transition of Ram Kumar's work from figuration to abstraction. In the words of the artist, “Every sight was like a new composition, a life artistically organized to be interpreted in colours. It was not merely outward appearances which were fascinating but they were vibrant with an inner life of their own, very deep and profound, which left an everlasting impression on my artistic sensibility. I could feel a new visual language emerging from the depth of an experience.” (Ram Kumar in G. Gill ed., Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 1996, p.89)

By the late 1960s, Kumar’s paintings turned away from Varanasi and towards the more nostalgic landscapes of his childhood, the forests and rivers of the Himalayan foothills. Kumar’s works from the late 1960s document his steady progression towards complete abstraction. “Ram Kumar translates the landscape into a system of lines, planes, blocks; their machine edged logic, entering into dialogue with texture and tone, governs the distribution of significant masses over the picture space.” (R. Hoskote, Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, New Delhi, 1996, p. 38) Using color and subtle gradations in his canvases, Kumar was able to break down forms and ideas to their abstracted core.

Kumar participated in various exhibitions, both domestically and internationally. Recent exhibitions featuring his work include Ram Kumar: Works in the Jehangir Nicholson Collection at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Mumbai (2015), Split Visions: Abstraction in Modern Indian Painting at Aicon Gallery in New York (2016) and Ram Kumar: Recent Works at Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi (2017). Kumar also received several awards including the Lalit Kala Akademi National Award (1956 and 1958) as well as the Padma Shri (1971).

Ram Kumar passed away in New Delhi in 2018.