Bridge

PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

Oil on canvas
1959
27 × 21 in. (68.6 × 53.3 cm.)

Signed, dated and inscribed ‘RAM KUMAR 1959 / BR...E / 700/- 21 X 27 / Ram Kumar 1959’ on reverse

PROVENANCE:
Acquired directly from the artist.

‘From forlorn men to desolate landscapes is but a step and Ram Kumar takes this step in 1960 which marks the beginning of a new phase in his work. In one painting of this year of transition the landscape indeed only reiterates and reinforces the sense of anguish which the faces convey. It would have done as well by itself. Ram Kumar sees the point and leaves hereafter the human face alone.’ (Shamlal, Ram Kumar, New Delhi, 1968, p. iv)

Upon his return from France to India in the early 1950s, Ram Kumar focused on figurative works, where he chose to portray the monotony and decay of urban existence. The works from this period reflect his personal disillusionment with society and Indian politics, but form part of a larger artistic commentary on the despair and desolation experienced in India after Independence. Ram’s figures, despite sometimes appearing huddled in family groups, rarely display any sign of tenderness or interaction with each other. As the decade progresses, his figures start to diminish in scale, and by late 1958, they have become abstracted, sometimes condensed down to geometric shapes that merely reflect the spiritless structures of the city that surrounds them.

The current work, dated to 1959, belongs to this post- figurative phase, where any semblance of humanity has been replaced by random forms that will slowly crystallise into abstract landscapes over the coming years. Executed primarily in shades of grey and white, the palette also lacks the areas of vermilion used in other works from this period, perhaps a precursor to the predominantly ‘grey’ period that was to follow, a reflection of the growing desolation he observed in his surroundings. This particular composition is possibly the perfect link between the figurative works of the earlier years and semi-representational landscapes such as Greek Landscape (1961) that came right after. Architectural elements are faintly identifiable, such as the bridge visible in the background, combined with more abstract formations like the circular visage-like form in the foreground. This, as Richard Bartholomew says, is the ‘Sanjoli-early Banaras period. In neither case was the divorce from “reality” total.’ (Richard Bartholomew, ‘The Abstract Principle in the Paintings of Ram Kumar’, Lalit Kala Contemporary 19 & 20, New Delhi, April-September, 1975, p. 12)

Nirmal Verma describes eloquently Ram Kumar’s retreat to a less figurative mode of expression, ‘meanwhile, something was happening very quietly, almost imperceptibly in Ram’s paintings.The figure which played so important a role in the entire drama of the Ram’s odyssey, was already beating a retreat, slowly hesitantly into the margins, almost merging with the dark greys and browns of the horizons. And what till then only vaguely lurked in the background – the shadowy outlines of dilapidated houses, a floating glimpse of the city roofs surged forward, pushing the figures onto the edges, occupying the centre stage, as it were.’ (Nirmal Verma, ‘From Solitude to Salvation’, Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, New Delhi, 1996, p. 22)
Condition: The colours of the original are lighter and less saturated, especially in the grey tones, than the catalogue illustration. A tiny speck of paint loss is seen at the center left, visible in the catalogue illustration. All four edges with minor abrasions and scattered areas of paint loss. Scattered areas of stable craquelure visible. Stretcher marks visible along the left and right edges. When examined under UV light, several scattered areas of consolidation and associated re-touching visible along the upper edge, the darker grey portion in the upper right, along the stretcher mark on the right, along the right edge, the lower right corner and a few scattered spots along the entire left edge. One area visible in the circular form and one in the central grey portion. Overall good condition.