$110,250
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000
Auction: May 11, 2021 12:00:00 PM EDT
Signed in Devanagari bottom right, inscribed with artist's name and title in English verso, oil on canvas.
27 x 30 1/2 in. (68.6 x 77.5cm)Provenance
Private Collection, Virginia.
Note
Of his first visit to the holy city of Benares (Varanasi) in the winter of 1960, Indian painter Ram Kumar said: “It was the middle of winter. And I had reached the city late at night. The dimly lit lanes were deserted and gave an impression of a ghostly deserted city. Except for the occasional howl of stray dogs, all was quiet. I thought the city was inhabited only by the dead and their dead souls. It looked like a haunted place and still remains the same… Every sight was like a new composition, a still life artistically organized to be interpreted in colors. It was not merely outward appearances which were fascinating but they were vibrant with an inner life of their own, very deep and profound, which left an everlasting impression on my artistic sensibility.” [1] After his trip to Benares, Kumar significantly changed his practice, away from figurative, representational painting to a more muted, abstract style. The present painting captures this moment in time, with its barren street and angular composition of earth tones outlined in black.
[1] The artist quoted in Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, ed. G. Gil, New Delhi, 1996, p. 89.