Ram Kumar (b. 1924)

Minor craquelure in the blue areas of paint with a few further minor abrasions along lower edge and upper left corner. Good overall condition. Original colors slightly paler than catalogue illustration. Horizontal line apparent from canvas rubbing stretcher.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Ram Kumar's landscapes of the 1970's mark a further step in his dialogue with abstraction. During this phase all recognizable man-made structures disappeared totally from his canvases. The landscape itself was completely deconstructed and its elements pared down to angular prismatic forms which seem to weave in and out of the picture plane creating their own architecture. Sloping geometric diagonals dissolve and re-emerge at various angles, fashioning a drifting universe that is in constant flux.    

In the present work, colors are used in a dynamic and daring way with broad washes of ochre and brown evoking the sun-baked hills surrounding the artist's home in the Himalayan foothills, interrupted in places by blue swaths of river and sky. In Ranjit Hoskote's words, the constant dialogue between the free swathing brushwork and the taut linearity of geometric elements creates stresses and strains within the structure of the landscape, making it, 'a mobile yet always coherent composition.' (Ranjit Hoskote in Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, New Delhi, 1996, p. 38).

The inherent lyricism in these works reveals a profound sense of inner illumination. As Nirmal Verma remarks, 'These "abstractions" are...like a shifting beam of light... passing through the entire space of the painting, from one segment of reality to another, uncovering the hidden relations, between the sky, the rock the river. The sacred resides not in the objects depicted, but in the relations discovered.' (Nirmal Verma in Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, New Delhi, 1996, p. 27).