Untitled (Abstract)

Ram Kumar's landscapes of the late 1960s and early 1970s are endowed with a spatial quality that is achieved through the artist's deft use of multiple perspectives and broad, flat planes of colour. Although these landscapes are not realistic representations of elements from nature, "wedges of land and expanses of water; demarcations of land as arid and fertile; febrile rock and luxuriant vegetation; sunlight and shade; moisture and mist" are all communicated through his use of colour. (R. Bartholomew, "The Abstract Principle in the Paintings of Ram Kumar", Lalit Kala Contemporary 19 & 20, New Delhi, April - September 1975, p. 14). The palette used for these works ranges from brown to ochre to yellow, and the overall composition is realised through subtle tonal variations that infuse the canvas with a sense of energy and dynamism.