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Lot Essay
The mythopoetic universe of K Ramanujam appears to be an impenetrable citadel watched over by the peering eyes of demigods – a nocturnal world shielded by “an army of muses” to use the artist’s own expression.
- Roobina Karode, 2022
Born in Chennai in 1941, K. Ramanujam had a short and turbulent life, plagued by a speech impediment, learning disabilities and loneliness that resulted from them. Despite, or perhaps because of these, he left behind an extraordinary, cathartic body of work, which intricately portrayed the complex dreamscapes portraying the imaginary world he spent most of his time inhabiting.
Speaking about some of the influences that shaped Ramanujam’s fantasy world, which she terms the artist’s “mythopoetic universe”, curator Roobina Karode writes, “Born into a conservative Tamil Brahmin/Iyengar family in Triplicane, the middle school dropout sought solace in Chandamama (‘Uncle Moon’), a South Indian children’s magazine beloved for its Puranic stories and intricate illustrations. As an adult, driven away by relatives, the penniless art student slept on the streets surrounded by Tamil cinema posters and gigantic hoardings. He frequented film shoots in Kodambakkam, fascinated by the elaborate sets created for mythological dramas. Further enriched by the Vaishnavite symbolism and Alvar Bhakti poetry tradition that he may have encountered as a child, Ramanujam’s artworks processed these experiences in sublime forms, at an intimate scale and in a material execution minuscule and modest” (R. Karode, Into the Moonlight Parade, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art website, accessed January 2026).
While critical acclaim for his work largely came posthumously, Ramanujam’s clear and singular vision did not go completely unnoticed during his short lifetime. After dropping out from middle school, he was mentored and cared for by the artist K.C.S Paniker, principal of the School of Arts and Crafts at Egmore, where his family sent him after he showed an interest in drawing. During his time there, Ramanujam honed his skills, producing a body of fantastical drawings and paintings that several visitors to the School noticed and appreciated. One of them, the British critic George Butcher, selected some of these works to be shown at the Commonwealth Arts Festival in 1965. After graduating, Ramanujam’s work was exhibited in New Delhi, Oslo, Copenhagen and Vienna among other cities, and in 1970, the architect Geoffrey Bawa commissioned him to paint three wall-sized murals for the Connemara Hotel in Madras, a major honor for any artist.
The present lot, one of a very small group of oil paintings by the artist that is known, and by far the largest to be offered at auction, was created in 1967 while he was a resident of Cholamandal Artists Village, a commune founded the year before by artists of the Madras School under Paniker’s leadership. In this painting, Ramanujam portrays what appears to be a ceremonial procession, led by a traditional rath or chariot followed by miniscule pennant bearing figures and several other larger ones on horseback, including the artist himself, portrayed with his characteristic moustache and hat, riding on a white stallion and wielding a saber. The entire convoy seems to be a heavenly one, crossing the sea of white clouds that rolls below them, with the immense floating palace seen in many of the artist’s pen and ink drawings providing an imposing backdrop.
In this painting, Ramanujam uses his skills as a draughtsman to portray the intricate, carved details of the rath in oil, rendered in black on black, and the specific architectural embellishments of the palace behind it. However, “far from being architectural illustrations, [his works] were charged with a defiant, almost an ungodly wish to liberate the monuments from their earthly moorings, which gave these drawings a qualitative intensity of tempestuous dreams. The temples swarming with numerous, small and gigantic figures with outspread wings literally yet effectively – suggested mythical flights of temple-chariots in a moment of taking off” (G. Sheikh, ‘K. Ramanujam’, Vrishchick, year 4, no. 2, Baroda, 1973, unpaginated).
Writing about the artist’s laborious process, the critic Jaya Appasamy notes, “The basis of his drawing is linear and figurative – he painstakingly builds up a fairy world of imaginary palaces, angels and demonic motifs. This world is entirely real and entirely fantasy; it is inhabited by strange beings and fantastic fauna... The artist works at a painting slowly, the linear tracery alternating with bare areas, the line being used to create texture... Though technically limited, Ramanujam’s work is imaginatively unlimited for with nothing more than a line or thread he can crochet vast tapestries” (J. Appasamy, ‘New Images in Indian Art; Fantasy’, Lalit Kala Contemporary 15, New Delhi, February 1973, p. 8).
Here, as in many other intricate works by Ramanujam, the artist centers a whimsical self-portrait, “lounging cheerfully in the processional tableaux, having created and now commanding a world mysteriously his own. In reality, however, the artist’s quest for love and dignity remained unfulfilled, pushing him to take his own life at the age of 33. Art had the power to both pull Ramanujam into, and rescue him from, the profound, alienating forces of darkness” (R. Karode, Ibid., accessed January 2026).
This seminal painting was acquired by the pioneering gallerist Sara Abraham, who championed several artists from the Madras School, bringing their works to national and international attention. Another, smaller painting by Ramanujam from Abraham’s collection, titled Fantasy, was acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, for their permanent collection.
- Roobina Karode, 2022
Born in Chennai in 1941, K. Ramanujam had a short and turbulent life, plagued by a speech impediment, learning disabilities and loneliness that resulted from them. Despite, or perhaps because of these, he left behind an extraordinary, cathartic body of work, which intricately portrayed the complex dreamscapes portraying the imaginary world he spent most of his time inhabiting.
Speaking about some of the influences that shaped Ramanujam’s fantasy world, which she terms the artist’s “mythopoetic universe”, curator Roobina Karode writes, “Born into a conservative Tamil Brahmin/Iyengar family in Triplicane, the middle school dropout sought solace in Chandamama (‘Uncle Moon’), a South Indian children’s magazine beloved for its Puranic stories and intricate illustrations. As an adult, driven away by relatives, the penniless art student slept on the streets surrounded by Tamil cinema posters and gigantic hoardings. He frequented film shoots in Kodambakkam, fascinated by the elaborate sets created for mythological dramas. Further enriched by the Vaishnavite symbolism and Alvar Bhakti poetry tradition that he may have encountered as a child, Ramanujam’s artworks processed these experiences in sublime forms, at an intimate scale and in a material execution minuscule and modest” (R. Karode, Into the Moonlight Parade, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art website, accessed January 2026).
While critical acclaim for his work largely came posthumously, Ramanujam’s clear and singular vision did not go completely unnoticed during his short lifetime. After dropping out from middle school, he was mentored and cared for by the artist K.C.S Paniker, principal of the School of Arts and Crafts at Egmore, where his family sent him after he showed an interest in drawing. During his time there, Ramanujam honed his skills, producing a body of fantastical drawings and paintings that several visitors to the School noticed and appreciated. One of them, the British critic George Butcher, selected some of these works to be shown at the Commonwealth Arts Festival in 1965. After graduating, Ramanujam’s work was exhibited in New Delhi, Oslo, Copenhagen and Vienna among other cities, and in 1970, the architect Geoffrey Bawa commissioned him to paint three wall-sized murals for the Connemara Hotel in Madras, a major honor for any artist.
The present lot, one of a very small group of oil paintings by the artist that is known, and by far the largest to be offered at auction, was created in 1967 while he was a resident of Cholamandal Artists Village, a commune founded the year before by artists of the Madras School under Paniker’s leadership. In this painting, Ramanujam portrays what appears to be a ceremonial procession, led by a traditional rath or chariot followed by miniscule pennant bearing figures and several other larger ones on horseback, including the artist himself, portrayed with his characteristic moustache and hat, riding on a white stallion and wielding a saber. The entire convoy seems to be a heavenly one, crossing the sea of white clouds that rolls below them, with the immense floating palace seen in many of the artist’s pen and ink drawings providing an imposing backdrop.
In this painting, Ramanujam uses his skills as a draughtsman to portray the intricate, carved details of the rath in oil, rendered in black on black, and the specific architectural embellishments of the palace behind it. However, “far from being architectural illustrations, [his works] were charged with a defiant, almost an ungodly wish to liberate the monuments from their earthly moorings, which gave these drawings a qualitative intensity of tempestuous dreams. The temples swarming with numerous, small and gigantic figures with outspread wings literally yet effectively – suggested mythical flights of temple-chariots in a moment of taking off” (G. Sheikh, ‘K. Ramanujam’, Vrishchick, year 4, no. 2, Baroda, 1973, unpaginated).
Writing about the artist’s laborious process, the critic Jaya Appasamy notes, “The basis of his drawing is linear and figurative – he painstakingly builds up a fairy world of imaginary palaces, angels and demonic motifs. This world is entirely real and entirely fantasy; it is inhabited by strange beings and fantastic fauna... The artist works at a painting slowly, the linear tracery alternating with bare areas, the line being used to create texture... Though technically limited, Ramanujam’s work is imaginatively unlimited for with nothing more than a line or thread he can crochet vast tapestries” (J. Appasamy, ‘New Images in Indian Art; Fantasy’, Lalit Kala Contemporary 15, New Delhi, February 1973, p. 8).
Here, as in many other intricate works by Ramanujam, the artist centers a whimsical self-portrait, “lounging cheerfully in the processional tableaux, having created and now commanding a world mysteriously his own. In reality, however, the artist’s quest for love and dignity remained unfulfilled, pushing him to take his own life at the age of 33. Art had the power to both pull Ramanujam into, and rescue him from, the profound, alienating forces of darkness” (R. Karode, Ibid., accessed January 2026).
This seminal painting was acquired by the pioneering gallerist Sara Abraham, who championed several artists from the Madras School, bringing their works to national and international attention. Another, smaller painting by Ramanujam from Abraham’s collection, titled Fantasy, was acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, for their permanent collection.