Ram Kumar is a contemporary Indian artist who has been described as one of India's foremost abstract painters. Educated as an economist with an M.A. from St. Stephen's College, Delhi

St. Stephen's College, Delhi

St. Stephen's College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi located in Delhi, India. The college admits both undergraduates and post-graduates, and awards degrees under the purview of the University. Famous for its rich history and many traditions, St...

, Ram Kumar took classes at the Sharda Ukil School of Art, and then went to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and studied further there under Andre Lhote

André Lhote

André Lhote was a French sculptor and painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also very active and influential as a teacher and writer on art....

 and Fernand Léger

Fernand Léger

Joseph Fernand Henri Léger was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of Cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style...

. He was befriended by S.H. Raza

S.H. Raza

Syed Haider Raza Alias S.H. Raza is an eminent Indian artist who has lived and worked in France since 1950, but maintains strong ties with India....

 and MF Hussain who are two major artists. Ram Kumar paints abstract

Abstract art

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...

 landscapes, usually in oil or acrylic. He is also an author, writing fiction in Hindi.

Ram Kumar has participated in various exhibitions in and out of India, including the 1958 Venice Biennale

Venice Biennale

The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...

 and the Festival of India shows in the then USSR and Japan in 1987 and 1988. One of Ram Kumar's latest solo exhibition was in 2008 in Delhi. Ram Kumar also writes in Hindi and eight collections of his works have been published, as well as two novels and a travelogue.

The human condition is the main concern of the painter manifested in his early works by the alienated individual within the city. Later the city, specifically Varanasi

Varanasi

-Etymology:The name Varanasi has its origin possibly from the names of the two rivers Varuna and Assi, for the old city lies in the north shores of the Ganga bounded by its two tributaries, the Varuna and the Asi, with the Ganges being to its south...

 with its dilapidated, crammed houses, conveys a sense of hopelessness. Increasingly abstract works done in sweeping strokes of paint evoke both exultation of natural spaces and more recently an incipient violence within human habitation.

As the interest in Indian art has grown, paintings by Ram Kumar are getting increasing recognition in the art market.

Ram Kumar received the Padma Shri

Padma Shri

Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...

 in 1972 and the Padma Bhushan

Padma Bhushan

The Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is awarded by the Government of India.-History:...

, India's third highest civilian honour, in 2010.

Personal Life

Ram Kumar was born in Shimla

Shimla

Shimla , formerly known as Simla, is the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of the British Raj in India. A popular tourist destination, Shimla is often referred to as the "Queen of Hills," a term coined by the British...

, Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh is a state in Northern India. It is spread over , and is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west and south-west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the south, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the east...

 in the year 1924. His father was from Patiala, Punjab and worked in the Defence Department for the British Government.Ram Kumar is also the older brother of the famous Hindi writer, Nirmal Verma

Nirmal Verma

Nirmal Verma was a Hindi writer, novelist, activist and translator. He is credited as being one of pioneers of ‘Nayi Kahani’ literary movement of Hindi literature, wherein his first collection of stories, ‘Parinde’ is considered its first signature.In his career spanning five decades and various...

. He lives and works in Delhi

Delhi

Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

.

External links

• Ram Kumar - Paintings
• http://www.vadehraart.com/images/publications/ramkumar-public-small.jpg
• http://www.artknowledgenews.com/files2007a/RamKumarVaranasi.jpg