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Lot Essay
Ram Kumar is well known for the abstracted landscapes he painted for over six decades. His affinity towards this style and subject began in the early 1960s following a life-changing visit to the city of Benares that led the artist to abandon naturalism and figuration. Overcome by a sense of spirituality and connection to the geography and architecture in the holy city, he began focusing his palette on muted, earth tones and emphasizing his surroundings, which earlier only served as a backdrop in his figurative paintings.
This era of Kumar’s career inspires a deep sense of individual reflection. Sham Lal poetically describes it, writing, “The sense of serenity that presides over [this work] is the result of a return to the roots. Those who think of it as escapism are the sort of people who are too involved with the current confusion and surface agitations, and too taken up with the increasing din of the market place, to have any feelings left for the still center of things” (S. Lal, Ram Kumar, a Journey Within, New Delhi, 1996, p. 17).
Indeed, the present lot provokes a meditative experience. It is easy for the eye to slowly wander across the olive hues and staggered transitions between tones, to explore the interpretive demarcations of hills, mountains, and sky. A patient observer begins to see Kumar’s emotional response to the rolling hills and forests of India gracefully expressed on this canvas. While the artist had outgrown the formal training he received by this time in his career, his thick application of paint and the fragmented hues in the present lot point to the modernist influences that marked his early oeuvre. While it is unclear which particular geography he is depicting here, as there are no clear markers of location or time, the scattered memories of Kumar’s life and travels begin to appear among the swirling strokes and the lively gestures of his brushwork.
This era of Kumar’s career inspires a deep sense of individual reflection. Sham Lal poetically describes it, writing, “The sense of serenity that presides over [this work] is the result of a return to the roots. Those who think of it as escapism are the sort of people who are too involved with the current confusion and surface agitations, and too taken up with the increasing din of the market place, to have any feelings left for the still center of things” (S. Lal, Ram Kumar, a Journey Within, New Delhi, 1996, p. 17).
Indeed, the present lot provokes a meditative experience. It is easy for the eye to slowly wander across the olive hues and staggered transitions between tones, to explore the interpretive demarcations of hills, mountains, and sky. A patient observer begins to see Kumar’s emotional response to the rolling hills and forests of India gracefully expressed on this canvas. While the artist had outgrown the formal training he received by this time in his career, his thick application of paint and the fragmented hues in the present lot point to the modernist influences that marked his early oeuvre. While it is unclear which particular geography he is depicting here, as there are no clear markers of location or time, the scattered memories of Kumar’s life and travels begin to appear among the swirling strokes and the lively gestures of his brushwork.