Ram Kumar (b.1924)

There are minor surface abrasions along the edges of the work. There are areas of cracking in the impasto around the centre of the painting, consistent with age. This work is in good condition overall, as viewed.
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Ram Kumar’s artistic practice is divided into a series of very distinctive phases. He began his career as a figurative painter and later played between representation and abstraction. Ram Kumar visited Varanasi in 1961, the same year this work was painted and is from a period when he ceased to paint figures but did not completely abandon form. He happened to reach the city very late at night and was affected by the ghostly quality and eerie quiet of his surroundings. “The years from 1960-1964 comprised a predominantly “grey” period, the sternest and the most austere in his career. Using the encaustic process Ram even delved into shades of black. Greys derived from blues and browns set off the facets of the textures, the drifts, the engulfed landforms, the isthmus shapes and the general theme of the fecund but desolate landscape.” (G. Gill ed., Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 1996, p. 30) This painting is the representation of his first impression of the revered city. With darkened skies and sombre hues, this nightscape by the banks of the river, is painted devoid of human figures, much like an abandoned town. With thickly applied impasto and masterful brushstrokes, this is powerful landscape matches the mystery of the sacred city itself.