Ram Kumar

Ram Kumar was born in Shimla in 1924. He is one of the pioneers of abstract painting. He gave up figurativism for abstract art. He is known for his abstract landscapes in oil or acrylic. One of the main concerns of the artist is human condition which was depicted in his paintings through alienated individual within the city. Increasingly abstract works done in sweeping strokes of paint evoke both exultation of natural spaces and more recently an incipient violence within human habitation. He fetched $1.1 million for his work “The Vagabond” at Christie’s, New York. His works are usually sold at a very high price both in domestic and international market. Kalidas Samman was given to him in 1986. In 2010, the Indian government honoured him with Padma Bhushan . He was awarded the Fellowship of Lalit Kala Akademi in 2011.