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Lot 29

 

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

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

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)

Painted in 1987, this later abstract landscape by Ram Kumar offers few clues to the identity of the location being portrayed. 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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