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lot 21

lot 21

Ram Kumar

Untitled

acrylic on canvas
33 x 52 in. (84 x 132 cm.)

Winning Bid: $ 62,000

Estimate: US$ 60,000 - 90,000

Lot Closed

Lot Details

Signed and inscribed 'Ram Kumar / 33 x 52' (on the reverse)

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist
Bodhi Art Gallery, New Delhi
Artiana / Sale 2004 / Lot 29 / South Asian Art - Modern and Contemporary / Dubai / 24 - 28 September 2020
Private collection, Dubai

LOT ESSAY
"Abandoning his stringent-abstractionist persona, Ram Kumar declares himself an amorist of the landscape. The true object of his art is not to render the landscape, but to love it: the true subject of his art is the landscape as Beloved." (Ranjit Hoskote, Ram Kumar: Selected Works 1950-2010, Vadehra Art Gallery, 2010, unpaginated)

Kumar had given his own interpretation of India's topography in his abstract landscapes, affirming the harmony and the power of nature in its subtlety. His poetic and elevating use of line offers a glimpse of semi-representational forms that gives meaning to the overall composition. He depicted figure of trees rising and rupturing the abstract vista with colors flowing naturally around it. Warm autumn hues lie embedded in the color fields, interrupted by the sporadic pink and blues, that signifies a break in the landscape and a change in the physical features of the land. The lyrical mix of colors and patterns lend the picture the desired spontaneity.

Ram Kumar

(1924 - 2018)
Born in Simla in 1924, Ram Kumar studied art while working on a Master’s degree in Economics from St. Stephens College, New Delhi. In 1949 he left for Paris to study painting under Andre Lhote and in 1950 he joined Atelier Fernand Leger, returning to India three years later. In 1970 he received the J. D. Rockefeller III Fund Fellowship. Since 1949, Ram Kumar has exhibited regularly in India and internationally. Some of his solo shows include those at Aicon Gallery, New York, in 2013; Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai in 2008; Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi in 2012, 2010-11, 09, 08, 06, 05, 03, 01, 00, 1993 and 92; Aicon Gallery, New York in 2013 and 2007, Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai in 2005, 1999, 92, 90, 86, 84, 83, 78, 76, 73 and 71; Arks Gallery, London in 1997; and Grosvenor Gallery, London in 1966. In 2002, Saffronart and Pundole Art Gallery organized a show of his work in Mumbai, New Delhi, San Francisco and New York. Other retrospectives of his work have been held at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi in 1994 and 1993; Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai in 1993; and the Birla Museum, Kolkata in 1980. In 1972 the Government of India awarded him with the Padma Shri, one of its highest Civilian honors. The Madhya Pradesh State Government awarded him with the Kalidas Samman in 1985, and for his writing, he received the Uttar Pradesh State Government award in 1975. Ram Kumar lived and worked in New Delhi, till he passed away in April 2018.