Untitled

Ram Kumar's preoccupation with the state of the human spirit is reflected in this early figurative work from 1958. On his return from Paris in 1952, Ram Kumar spent a lot of time with the residents of Karol Bagh, a tenement built for the refugees who fled Pakistan in the years immediately following Partition. This experience provided the inspiration for his first novel Ghar Bane Ghar Toote and manifested itself visually in his early figurative paintings, where his intuitive depictions represent the difficulties and frustrations faced by fellow men. "Ram's figures and the urban cityscape in which they are situated make us reminiscent of something we have seen before. It is as if the muted characters of his novel, the refugees leave the shelter of the written page and get transmuted into the shadowy squatters of the paintings." (Nirmal Verma, Exhibition Catalogue, Ram Kumar, A Retrospective, Jehangir Art Gallery.) However, while the novel has a subtle yet definite emotional component to it, the figures in the paintings appear to be lacking the warmth of the book's characters. "The forlorn figures huddled in the foreground not only appear to be estranged from their environment, but what is more disturbing, they seem to be strangers to one another." (op cit.) The only link between the figures appears to be a common search for release and a sense of belonging.