Signed, dated and inscribed 'Ram Kumar 08 / 3 x 2' (on the reverse)
Bearing Vadehra Art Gallery label (on the reverse)

PROVENANCE
Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi

Ram Kumar is an essential part of the first generation of post-colonial Indian artists who decided to go against the grain of figuration and adopted a highly abstracted visual language. Having exhausted the possibilities of figuration in his earlier works, the artist no longer felt the need for symbolic expressionism and would banish figures from his compositions for several decades. Kumar said, "When an artist first learns to paint he does figurative art like painting the anatomy, still life as he must first follow a realistic pattern. Only after he finds his own path he creates other things. In my case, I moved on to the abstract." (as cited by Uma Prakash, Ram Kumar: Selected Works 1950-2010, Vadehra Art Gallery, 2010, p.9) Focusing on abstraction, he developed a visual language through the years that gave him the avenue to create and express freely through his art.

The hushed tranquility of the entire work does not overlook the joy in colors offered in the canvas. The work shows Kumar indulging in his passion for the shades of rust and ochre that dominates the composition while the texture accentuates the easy fluid motions of the artist's brush strokes. The astonishing play of color and texture in his abstract works displays his inner spirit which was quiet, meditative, and inventive, revealing an astute intellect and rare sensitivity.