Ram Kumar: The modernist and observer

Celebrated for his acute sense of observation and for replicating the same on the canvas, the works of India's leading modernist, Ram Kumar, now find themselves with one of the most sought private collectors.

Born in 1924 in Shimla, Ram Kumar studied economics at St. Stephen's College, New Delhi, in 1946 and later ventured to France to study art. After his graduation, he went to Paris to study painting under Andre Lhote and Fernard Leger from 1949 to 1952.

Upon his return to India, Kumar was influenced by his surroundings and the same was visible in his early works. He spent his time in Delhi observing and painting the people around him.

His work was influenced by feelings of detachment and he used figurative work to express the feelings of alienation, disillusionment and isolation he sensed.

The subjects, in which he believed and chose to work with, were influenced by the symbolism of the overall oppression. Throughout his work, the sense that prevails and predominates his artistic expression was the inherent reality of society to which he, as an artist and by extension of subject, belonged.

Some of the paintings, including the likes of the 'Vegabond Series of Ram Kumar', painted in the year 1956, now find themselves as part of the private collection of a Delhi-based art collector. Like the works from this period, his paintings also reflect concerns that stemmed largely from the trials of urban living in an urban environment, marred by conflicts that ensue from dense population, unemployment and artificial relationships.