Important Notice

Ram Kumar's landscapes evolved from realistic representations to abstract interpretations, pared down to colours and forms rather than depicting an identifiable location. In works such as the present lot, the artist "translates the landscape into a system of lines, planes, blocks; their machine-edged logic, entering into dialogue with texture and tone, govern the distribution of significant masses over the picture space... He does not mirror... Ram Kumar's landscapes evolved from realistic representations to abstract interpretations, pared down to colours and forms rather than depicting an identifiable location. In works such as the present lot, the artist "translates the landscape into a system of lines, planes, blocks; their machine-edged logic, entering into dialogue with texture and tone, govern the distribution of significant masses over the picture space... He does not mirror reality, but subjects it to a prismatic analysis: his topography, for instance, is a diagram of forces in a field rather than a picturesque postcard view; each city, each trapfall is a summation of views from various angles, arranged on the same plane for the discernment of the viewer." (Ranjit Hoskote, "The Poet of the Visionary Landscape," Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 1996, p. 38)

Spring was painted during an austere phase in Ram Kumar's artistic career, when he worked with a predominantly monochromatic palette. During the first half of this decade, according to critic Richard Bartholomew, "Ram alternated between the "literary" and the "pure" styles of abstraction. Colour and the complexity of imagery determined the mood of the painting... Using the encaustic process Ram even delved into shades of black. Greys derived from blues and browns set off the facets of the textures, the drifts, the engulfed landforms, the isthmus shapes and the general theme of the fecund but desolate landscape." (Richard Bartholomew, "The Abstract as a Pictorial Proposition," Gagan Gill ed., Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 1996, p. 30) Here, Kumar portrays an unusual aspect of the season - the subtle tones are possibly reminiscent of transformation, when the snow has not quite melted and hints at what is to come.

The present lot was showcased in 1965 in Nairobi, Kampala and Dar es Salaam as part of a travelling exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art in East Africa, organised by the Lalit Kala Akademi.

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