Ram Kumar (b. 1924)

Ram Kumar (solo exhibition), Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, 1968

Ram Kumar, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, 1968, cat. 18 illustrated

fine cracquelure especially in upper gray portion of canvas, a horizontal crease runs across the canvas 2/3 of the way down, stretcher mark apparent along lower edge, colors of original slightly brigher than catalogue illustration especially in blues as viewed
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Ram Kumar's bleak cityscapes of the 1950's convey his deep disillusionment with the unfolding complexities of India's post-Independence polity. In the 1960's he turned away from figuration altogether after a momentous visit to the holy city of Benaras. The eternal cycle of life, death, grief and celebration played out in the streets and riverbanks of the city left a deep impact on him causing him to reflect upon the inherent and unchanging dualities of the Universe.

The artist's works from the early 1960's employed the architecture of the Benaras as their staple; its houses, lanes, shadows, reflections, were all used as the basis for abstract formulations, but the human figure itself was noticeably absent. 'By banishing the figure... Ram Kumar was able to emphasize the nullification of humanity, and to deploy architecture and landscape as metaphors articulating cultural and psychological fragmentation.'(Ranjit Hoskote in Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, New Delhi, 1996, p. 37).

Paintings from the mid-1960's onwards document the artist's steady progression towards complete abstraction. In works such as the present lot, the outlines of the city's edifices are sublimated into topographical structures arranged in sweeping panoramic compositions. 'The artist addressed himself to the formal aberrations of mismatched planes, jamming the horizontal perspective against top views inspired by site mapping and aerial photography, and locking the muddy, impasto-built riverbank constructions into Cubist geometrical analysis.' (ibid, p. 38). The somber tone of these landscapes bears echoes of irrevocable loss and decay. However, this is enlivened in places by bright splashes of tan, sienna, green and azure, hopeful interludes signifying rebirth and renewal, as seen in the present painting, titled Spring. 

'Ram Kumar's landscapes lift one out of the toil of the moment into the timeless world of formless memories. What he paints now is not what the eye sees in the ancient city, it is rather the response of the soul to the visual impacts. The impact has released the cityscapes of the artist's inner world, a world built into the emotional and psychological complex of the artist's personality, the only true world. (J. Swaminathan rpt. in Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, New Delhi, 1996, p. 73).