Important Notice

"Ram Kumar, like many of his confreres among the first generation of post-colonial Indian artists - including such figures as F. N. Souza, M. F. Husain, Paritosh Sen, Jehangir Sabavala, Krishen Khanna, S. H. Raza and Akbar Padamsee - combined an internationalist desire with the need to belong emphatically to their homeland. In its internationalist mood, this generation looked to the early 20th-century modernisms of Paris, London and Vienna for... "Ram Kumar, like many of his confreres among the first generation of post-colonial Indian artists - including such figures as F. N. Souza, M. F. Husain, Paritosh Sen, Jehangir Sabavala, Krishen Khanna, S. H. Raza and Akbar Padamsee - combined an internationalist desire with the need to belong emphatically to their homeland. In its internationalist mood, this generation looked to the early 20th-century modernisms of Paris, London and Vienna for inspiration; its need to belong prompted an interest in the construction of a viable 'Indian' aesthetic that bore a dynamic relationship to an Indian identity. With Ram Kumar, this quest for an indigenist tenor has not meant a superficial inventory of 'native' motifs offered as evidence of a static and essentialist Indian identity. Instead....he demonstrates that a painter can enact the innermost dramas of his culture while maintaining the individuality, even idiosyncrasy of his performance" (Ranjit Hoskote, "Parts of a World: Reflections on the Art of Ram Kumar", Ram Kumar Recent Works, Saffronart and Pundole Art Gallery exhibition catalogue, 2002, pg 7).

As noted by Ranjit Hoskote, Ram Kumar's search for a plausible Indian identity did not lie in employing specific motifs like some of his contemporaries. Rather, he sought to portray the dilemma of the urban Indian with poetic poignancy and through a careful consideration of structure, colour and form. His foray into art carried with it his learnings in Paris as an art student in the 1950s. At the time, he was involved with the French Communist Party. His leftist leanings translated into human empathy in his paintings in the '50s. His subjects were stylised, melancholic, and lugged the baggage of despair. Set against a backdrop of desolate streets and gaunt houses, Ram Kumar's works reflected the turmoil of his subjects.

Critics, ranging from Richard Bartholomew, who covered art extensively during the 1950s, to Ranjit Hoskote's present day analysis highlight the artist's gradual thematic and stylistic evolution. Writing for the Hindustan Times Weekly in 1955, Bartholomew observes a conflict between Ram Kumar's aesthetic beliefs and political leanings: "That there is a conflict is apparent from...the symbol of the shadow-man, a figure that is haunting, lonely, always gesticulating, advancing or retreating, like hope."

The conflict he notes persists through the latter half of the '50s, yet with the present lot, appears to have reached some kind of resolution. The viewer glimpses a barely formed face at the left, abstracted into the background, almost melting into it. Through a careful demarcation and juxtaposition of colour, Ram Kumar emotes his subject's loneliness against an empty city, stripped of any specific time or location. His use of yellow and purple is very unusual, and heightens the desolation and despair palpable in the work.

On the surface, the figure's melting away strikes the viewer as a visual metaphor of him yielding to his fate. Formally, it bears a heraldic ring to it: Ram Kumar's usage of line and colour hint at the beginnings of his transition to abstraction. The artist acknowledges this leaving behind of the figurative as part of an interim period: "I was slowly coming to a phase where figures were becoming more and more obscure....The landscapes and figures were merging into each other in the forms." (Gagan Gill, "The Artist at Work - An Interview with Ram Kumar", Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 1996, pg. 191). He has used line sparingly to outline the man, as if hinting that this chapter in figuration is coming to an end. His careful containment of colour for the houses suggests that he will continue exploring the theme of colour and topography in following decades, although with a different approach, as seen in his abstract Benaras landscapes from the '60s onwards.

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