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{{short description|Artist (1924-2018)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Ram Kumar
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1924|09|23}}<ref>[https://books.google.de/books?id=mH9mAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Ram+Kumar%22+sept+24&dq=%22Ram+Kumar%22+sept+24&hl=de&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiw7vHqnrzaAhW00aYKHRs7Be8Q6AEIJzAA India Who's who 1995-96], p. 273</ref>
| birth_place = [[Shimla]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[British India]] {{small|(now Shimla, [[Himachal Pradesh]], India)}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2018|4|14|1924|09|23}}
| nationality = Indian
| field = Painting
| training = Sharada Ukil School of Art, New Delhi (1945)
| works =
| patrons =
| awards = [[List of Lalit Kala Akademi fellows|Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Akademi]], 2011<ref name="The fellowship of Shri Ram Kumar">{{cite web|title=The fellowship of Shri Ram Kumar|url=http://lalitkala.gov.in/the-fellowship-of-shri-ram-kumar.html|publisher=Lalit Kala Akademi|access-date=29 March 2012}}</ref> 
[[Padma Bhushan]], 2010<ref>{{cite web|title=Padma Bhushan Awardees|url=http://india.gov.in/myindia/padmabhushan_awards_list1.php?start=60|access-date=25 March 2012}}</ref> 
Lifetime Achievement Award, Government of Delhi<ref>{{cite web|title=Lifetime Achievement Award|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-12-23/chess/28219090_1_lifetime-achievement-award-painter-khel-ratna-award|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709030005/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-12-23/chess/28219090_1_lifetime-achievement-award-painter-khel-ratna-award|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 July 2012|work=[[The Times of India]]|access-date=28 March 2012}}</ref>

[[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres|Officers Arts et Letter]], 2003 
[[Kalidas Samman]], 1986 
Premchand Puraskar, 1972 
[[Padma Shri|Padmashree]], 1972 
J. D. Rockefeller III Fellowship, New York, 1970<ref name="Bio Summary">{{cite web|title=Bio Summary|url=http://www.saffronart.com/artist/ArtistBiography.aspx?artistid=164&a=Ram%20Kumar|access-date=25 March 2012}}</ref>
}}

'''Ram Kumar''' (23 September 1924<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mH9mAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Ram+Kumar%22+sept+24 |title = India Who's who|year = 1995}}</ref> – 14 April 2018) was an Indian artist and writer who has been described as one of India's foremost abstract painters.<ref name="ifr">{{cite journal |year=1986 |journal=Indian and Foreign Review |publisher=[[Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India)]] |volume=24 |pages=20 |issn=0019-4379 }}</ref> He was associated with the [[Bombay Progressive Artists' Group|Progressive artists' group]] along with greats like [[M.F. Hussain]], [[Tyeb Mehta]], [[S.H. Raza]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Progressive artist's group|url=http://ngmaindia.gov.in/sh-pag.asp|access-date=26 March 2012}}</ref> He is said to be one of the first Indian artists to give up [[figurativism]] for [[abstract art]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Ram Kumar artistic intensity of an ascetic|url=http://www.artnewsnviews.com/view-article.php?article=ram-kumar-artistic-intensity-of-an-ascetic&iid=30&articleid=846|access-date=26 March 2012}}</ref> His art commands high prices in the domestic and international market. His work "The Vagabond" fetched $1.1 million at [[Christie's]], setting another world record for the artist.
He is also one of the few Indian Modernist masters accomplished in writing as well as painting.<ref>{{cite web|title=Portrait of an Artist|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?203731|publisher=Outlook|access-date=28 March 2012}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
'''Ram Kumar Verma''' was born in [[Shimla]], the capital of the Indian state of [[Himachal Pradesh]] in a large middle-class family of eight brothers and sisters.<ref>{{cite web|title=Biography|url=http://www.saffronart.com/artist/ArtistInterview.aspx?artistid=164|access-date=28 March 2012}}</ref> His father was a government employee from [[Patiala]] in [[Punjab, India]] who worked in the Civil and Administrative Division in the British Government.<ref>{{cite web|title=ArtistInterview|url=http://www.saffronart.com/artist/ArtistInterview.aspx?artistid=164|publisher=Saffron Art|access-date=28 March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Nirmal Verma Obituary|url=http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/oct/26nirmal.htm|access-date=30 March 2012|newspaper=Rediff}}</ref>
While pursuing M.A. in Economics from [[St. Stephen's College, Delhi]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Ram Kumar: a journey within |last=Lal |first=Sham |author-link=Sham Lal |author2=Gagan Gill |year=1996 |publisher=Vadehra Art Gallery |oclc=36556291 |page=209 }}</ref> he chanced upon an art exhibition in 1945.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ram Kumar Interview|url=http://www.saffronart.com/artist/ArtistInterview.aspx?artistid=164|publisher=Saffron Art|access-date=28 March 2012}}</ref> One evening, after "loitering" around [[Connaught Place, New Delhi|Connaught Place]] with his friends from [[St. Stephen's College, Delhi|St Stephen's College]], he landed up at an art exhibition.<ref name="True Colours">{{cite news|title=True Colours|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/true-colours/726463/0|access-date=28 March 2012|newspaper=The Indian Express|date=19 December 2010}}</ref>

{{quote|I saw paintings like that for the first time and it made me so intrigued that I returned several times".<ref name="True Colours"/>}}

Ram Kumar took classes at the Sharda Ukil School of Art under [[Sailoz Mookherjea|Sailoz Mukherjee]] and gave up employment at a bank in 1948 to pursue art.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ram Kumar: Artistic Intensity of an Ascetic|url=http://www.artnewsnviews.com/view-article.php?article=ram-kumar-artistic-intensity-of-an-ascetic&iid=30&articleid=846|access-date=28 March 2012}}</ref> Sailoz Mukherjee was a painter from [[Santiniketan|Shantiniketan School]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Oil Paintings from Bengal|url=http://www.artofbengal.com/oil.htm|access-date=30 March 2012}}</ref> who introduced him to still life painting with live models.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ram Kumar a transition from figurative|url=http://www.artnewsnviews.com/view-article.php?article=ram-kumar-a-transition-from-figurative-to-abstract&iid=14&articleid=277|access-date=30 March 2012}}</ref> While a student there, he met [[S.H. Raza|Raza]] at an exhibition. [[S.H. Raza|Raza]] and Ram became good friends.<ref>{{cite web|title=Artist Profile|url=http://www.theartstrust.com/artistprofile.aspx?artistid=46&name=Ram%C2%A0Kumar|publisher=The Art Trust|access-date=30 March 2012}}</ref> He convinced his father to pay for a one-way ticket to Paris and studied further there under [[Andre Lhote]] and [[Fernand Léger]].<ref name=treves>{{cite book |title=Indian art: the moderns revisited, Volume 1 |last=Treves |first=Toby |year=2006 |publisher=Vadehra Art Gallery |isbn=978-81-87737-19-3 |page=42 }}</ref> In Paris, the pacificist peace movement attracted him and he joined the [[French Communist Party]]. Seeking inspiration in the Social Realists such as [[Käthe Kollwitz|Kathe]] and Fourgenon.<ref>{{cite web|title=Artistic intensity of an ascetic|url=http://www.artnewsnviews.com/view-article.php?article=ram-kumar-artistic-intensity-of-an-ascetic&iid=30&articleid=846|access-date=1 April 2012}}</ref> He was befriended by [[S.H. Raza]] and [[MF Hussain]] who are two major artists.<ref>{{cite book |title=Contemporary Indian artists |last=Kapur |first=Geeta |author-link=Geeta Kapur|year=1978 |publisher=Vikas |isbn=978-0-7069-0527-4 |page=49 }}</ref>

==Career==

Ram Kumar painted [[Abstract art|abstract]] landscapes, usually in oil or acrylic.<ref>{{cite book |title=Surface and depth: Indian artists at work |last=Chawla |first=Rupika |year=1995 |publisher=[[Viking Press|Viking]] |isbn=978-0-670-86174-3 |page=105 }}</ref> He was also associated with the [[Bombay Progressive Artists' Group|Progressive artists' group]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Progressive artist's group|url=http://ngmaindia.gov.in/sh-pag.asp|access-date=25 March 2012}}</ref>

Ram Kumar has participated in various exhibitions in and out of India, including the 1958 [[Venice Biennale]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Politics and painting at the Venice Biennale, 1948–64: Italy and the idea of Europe |last=Jachec |first=Nancy |year=2008 |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]] |isbn=978-0-7190-6896-6 |page=175 }}</ref> and the Festival of India shows in the then USSR and Japan in 1987 and 1988.<ref>{{cite book |title=Movement in Indian art, a tribute |last=Vishwambara |first=K. S. |year=1998 |publisher=[[Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath]] |oclc=62857926 |page=91 }}</ref> One of Ram Kumar's latest solo exhibitions was in 2008 in Delhi.<ref>{{cite news |title=A colourful friendship |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/%3Cb%3E%3Cfont-color-=%27black%27%3EA-colourful-friendship%3C/font%3E%3C/b%3E/262892/ |work=[[The Indian Express]]|date=18 January 2008 |access-date=26 September 2009 }}</ref> Ram Kumar also wrote in Hindi and eight collections of his works have been published, as well as two novels and a travelogue.<ref>{{cite book |title=The face & other stories |last=Kumar |first=Ram |year=2004 |publisher=Vadehra Art Gallery |isbn=978-81-87737-06-3 |page=16 }}</ref>

The human condition is the main concern of the painter<ref>{{cite book |title=Indian realities in bits and pieces |last=Lal |first=Sham |author-link=Sham Lal |year=2003 |publisher=[[Rupa & Co.]] |isbn=978-81-291-0247-8 |page=513 }}</ref> manifested in his early works by the alienated individual within the city.<ref name=treves/> Later the city, specifically [[Varanasi]] with its dilapidated, crammed houses, conveys a sense of hopelessness.<ref>{{cite news |title=Breadth of lifescapes |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/mag/2002/07/07/stories/2002070700120200.htm |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=7 July 2002 |access-date=26 September 2009 }}</ref> Increasingly abstract works done in sweeping strokes of paint evoke both exultation of natural spaces and more recently an incipient violence within human habitation.<ref name=treves/>

As the interest in Indian art has grown, paintings by Ram Kumar are getting increasing recognition in the art market.<ref>{{cite news |title=Second knock |url=http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=149982 |work=Lucknow Newsline |publisher=[[Indian Express Group]] |date=24 September 2005 |access-date=26 September 2009 }}</ref>

Ram Kumar received the [[Padma Shri]] in 1972<ref>{{cite web |url=http://india.gov.in/myindia/advsearch_awards.php |title=Search Awardees |work=My India, My Pride |publisher=[[National Informatics Centre]] |access-date=26 September 2009 }}</ref> and the [[Padma Bhushan]], India's third highest civilian honour, in 2010.<ref>{{cite news |title=Doctors and artists in Delhi's Padma gallery |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-01-26/delhi/28148562_1_indian-culture-padma-vibhushan-padma-bhushan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811055820/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-01-26/delhi/28148562_1_indian-culture-padma-vibhushan-padma-bhushan |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 August 2011 |work=[[The Times of India]] |date=26 January 2010 |access-date=11 April 2010 }}</ref> ''Lal Bhi Udhaas Ho Sakta Hai'' (''Even Red Can be Sad''), a 2015 [[Documentary film|documentary feature]] directed by [[Amit Dutta]] and produced by the [[Government of India]]'s [[Films Division of India|Films Division]] charts the various works of Kumar.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Even Red Can be Sad {{!}} Films Division|url=https://filmsdivision.org/shop/even-red-can-be-sad|access-date=2021-05-30|website=filmsdivision.org}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Ram Kumar was also the older brother of the famous Hindi writer, [[Nirmal Verma]] and younger brother of Colonel, [[Raj Kumar Verma]]. He lived and worked in [[Delhi]] until his death in 2018.<ref>http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/ram-kumar-1924-2018-in-memoriam/</ref>

==Awards and honours==
*[[Asian Cultural Council|John D. Rockefeller III]] Fellowship, New York, 1970<ref>{{cite web|title=Artist Bio|url=http://www.saffronart.com/artist/ArtistBiography.aspx?artistid=164&a=Ram Kumar|access-date=29 March 2012}}</ref>
*[[Padma Shri|Padmashree]], Government of India, 1972
*Premchand Puraskar, [[Government of Uttar Pradesh]], 1972
*[[Kalidas Samman]], [[Government of Madhya Pradesh]], 1986
*[[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres|Officers Arts et Letters]], [[Cabinet of France|Government of France]], 2003
*Lifetime Achievement Award, [[Government of Delhi]], 2010
*[[Padma Bhushan]], [[Government of India]], 2010
*[[List of Lalit Kala Akademi fellows|Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Akademi]], 2011<ref name="The fellowship of Shri Ram Kumar"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://osianama.com/mast-art-0000766 Ramkumar Artworks and Public Auction Prices and Economic Data]
*[http://www.saffronart.com/artists/ram-kumar Ram Kumar Profile, Interview and Collection of Art Works]
*[http://www.theartstrust.com/artistexhibhition.aspx?artistid=46&name=Kumar%20Ram Ram Kumar – Paintings]
* [http://www.artknowledgenews.com/files2007a/RamKumarVaranasi.jpg Oil Painting of Varanasi by Ram Kumar]

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}}
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2010–19}}

{{Fellows of the Lalit Kala Akademi}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Ram}}
[[Category:20th-century Indian painters]]
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Shimla]]
[[Category:St. Stephen's College, Delhi alumni]]
[[Category:Abstract artists]]
[[Category:Hindi-language writers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts]]
[[Category:Rockefeller Fellows]]
[[Category:Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Lalit Kala Akademi]]
[[Category:Painters from Himachal Pradesh]]

Ram Kumar (artist) - Revision history

imported>Editrite!: Changed to past tense