Important Notice

"As I began to paint, the landscapes came naturally and gradually, the outlines faded into abstracts." - RAM KUMAR

This later abstract landscape by Ram Kumar offers few clues to the identity of the location being portrayed. From early figurative work, Kumar gradually moved to increasingly abstract depictions of the places he had visited, with a particular focus on Benaras. Like fellow artist S H Raza's interest in the emotive... "As I began to paint, the landscapes came naturally and gradually, the outlines faded into abstracts." - RAM KUMAR

This later abstract landscape by Ram Kumar offers few clues to the identity of the location being portrayed. From early figurative work, Kumar gradually moved to increasingly abstract depictions of the places he had visited, with a particular focus on Benaras. Like fellow artist S H Raza's interest in the emotive qualities of nature, Kumar too was more concerned with capturing the essence of the place rather than in realistic cityscapes. Critic Richard Bartholomew alludes to this intangible quality in Kumar's art: "When I see a Ram Kumar painting... I get the feeling that I've been there before... The very forms of the composition suggest that. The hard and the soft, the tangible and the elusive, the structure and the sensation... Ram's work draws us into its field of vision, involving us visually, stimulating us to see this detail or that... There is great depth, in perspective and feeling. The experience encountered is extremely refined. A reductive principle in composition and an immaculate technique determine the scale." (Richard Bartholomew, "Ram Kumar '73," Rati Bartholomew, Carmen Kagal and Rosalyn D'Mello eds., Richard Bartholomew: The Art Critic, New Delhi: Bart, 2012, p. 536) The present lot, with its focus on the language of painting, evokes just such a sense of place, without specifying what that place might be.

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