RAM KUMAR
Akara Modern
1924 -2018
Born in Shimla, Ram Kumar completed his
Masters in Economics at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. Unsatisfied
with the direction that his life was leading toward, Ram Kumar began his art
education by enrolling in evening classes at Sarada Ukil School of Art, New
Delhi. He learnt the ‘Western style’ of painting under the tutelage of Sailoz
Mookherjea.
As an artist, Ram Kumar created works
with a sensitivity that bellied his stoic appearance. He began experimenting
with figurative art and moved on to making his more well-known abstract
landscapes. It was his trip to Benares in the early 1960s that changed the
trajectory of Ram Kumar’s art journey. He never returned to figural painting
and subsequently made a transition from figurative to abstract art. Ram Kumar
was able to achieve an impression of lyrical transcendentalism that separated
his paintings from those of the other renowned progressives.
He received the national award in 1956
and 1958 and was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian Government in 1971. In
2010, he was even awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India, and
received the Lalit Kala Academy fellowship in 2011. In addition to being a
visual artist of repute, Ram Kumar is also a prolific Hindi writer. Some
of his solo show include those in Mumbai, New Delhi, New York and London. A
retrospective of his works has been held at the National Gallery of Modern Art,
New Delhi (1994); Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (1993); and the Birla Museum,
Kolkata (1980).
Images
Exhibitions
Ominous Idylls: Group Show March 14 - April 13 , 2024
Memories Arrested In Space March 26 - May 05 , 2021
India Art Fair 2019 January 31 - February 03 , 2019
Press
