Untitled (Benares)

The cityscapes of Benares have long been a dominant theme in Ram Kumar's oeuvre. He first visited the city with Maqbool Fida Husain in the early 60s. Ram Kumar's early depictions of Benares (from 1960-64) are often heavily impastoed in a monochromatic palette. The bold architectural lines here dissolve into white signifying the illusion and emptiness of human existence. As Ram Kumar experimented with this cityscape, the images became more diffuse and refracted. However, with later depictions of Benares in the 1980s and 90s, Ram Kumar returns to a more pictorial style that depicts the city from the vantage of the Ganges combining his dual interests in landscape and architecture.

Compare to two other renditions of Benares from the same period: Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, G. Gill, ed., New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 1996, p. 104 illustrated; and N. Tuli, Indian Contemporary Painting, New York: Harry Abrams, Inc., 1998, p. 364.