“To me, art should be as good as [Munshi] Premchand, as good as [Rabindranath] Tagore, as good as Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. It should be read by each and every one. They should feel thrilled by it and feel it is my own life, it is my own culture that is reflected.” – A. Ramachandran

When we think of art, we often assume that it should mirror the ills of human society and through this, its preferred goal should be the transformation of society. We think of Goya, of Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, of Kahlo and many others as artists who propound a particular political message through their work. This was precisely what mobilised the young A. Ramachandran’s art as he navigated his life in this harsh world. But midway through his life, he realised that maybe art should aspire to something else – the beautiful. But what led to this changed perception that completely altered the aesthetic universe of Ramachandran? In this article, we try to unravel the artistic sensibilities of this pioneer of Indian art.  

Bathers at Jogi ka Talab. 2008. Courtesy of A. Ramachandran.

Ramachandran was born in 1935 in Attingal, Kerela. He received a degree Master’s degree in Malayalam literature from Kerela University in 1957. Then he joined Kala Bhavan at Viswa Bharati University to study art under masters like Ramkinker Baij and Benodebehari Mukherjee. Later he joined Jamia Millia University in New Delhi as a lecturer in art education in 1965 and continued working there for the next twenty-eight years as a Professor and Head of developing the department. In 1992 he took voluntary retirement from teaching in order to devote his time to his creative pursuits. Since then he has lived and worked in New Delhi. 

A legend in his field, Ramachandran is probably one of the most well-known living authorities in Indian art. His works have been exhibited across several galleries in India and abroad. In 2002, he was elected as a Fellow of the Lalit Kala Academi. In 2003, the Government of Kerala honoured him with the Raja Ravi Varma Award. In 2005, he was decorated with the Padma Bhushan award by the Indian government. 

Stamp for the 9th Asian Games 1982. Courtesy of A. Ramachandran.

Although largely associated with his signature massive oil paintings akin to murals, Ramachandran has explored numerous mediums throughout his career right from sculptures, watercolours, ink and colour drawings to miniature paintings, children’s picture book illustrations, stamps, and ceramics. He has also been a writer and researcher, his most important work being an exhaustive scholarly work on the murals in Kerela temples. He attributes this eclecticism to his training at Santiniketan under Nandalal Bose who always encouraged students to break free of their singular pursuits of being a painter or sculptor and explore different avenues of thinking and artistic expression. 

Kali Puja. 1972. Oil on Canvas. Courtesy of A. Ramachandran.

Ramachandran’s early art was distinctly political. For almost two decades, from the early 1960s, he painted cataclysmic images of violence, bloodshed, and human degradation in such works as Kali Puja, Audience, Gandhi and the 20th Century Cult of Violence, Vision of War, End of the Yadavas. This bleak vision was born out of his experience in post-Partition Calcutta where he encountered refugees living abysmal lives on the pavements. He had also been vociferously reading Dostoyevsky during this period which added to the feelings of angst and existential dread. His work Kali Puja was made as a response to the Naxalite movement when according to him, numerous young and brilliant students got attracted to the charm of the movement and were later killed like dogs and goats by the police. To him, it was no different than the sacrifice of goats as mere objects that he saw in a Kali temple nearby Santinekatan. The terrorising headless human figures in the painting along with the peculiar colour palette give a sculptural quality to the work that is recognisable in many of the works from this period that engage with different registers of human suffering.

Urvashi at Nagda. 1991. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of A. Ramachandran. 

But during the latter part of the 70s and especially the early 80s, his work became less political and underwent a change due to a particular incident. In 1984 after Indira Gandhi’s assassination, he witnessed outside his house a Sikh man being chased by a group of men who eventually lynched him to death. This incident scarred him for life and made him rethink his artistic sensibilities. He came to the conclusion that the misery of such violence should not be a topic for a painting. For him seeing a painting is ultimately a beautiful experience that turns even a repulsive thought into a beautiful object. But using that beautiful object which germinated out of terrible experience to sell it to people and make money seemed immoral to him and therefore, he completely rejected the practice of political paintings, a move that drew immense criticism. Instead, he felt that the purpose of art was to celebrate beauty and give the audience aesthetic pleasure. 

White Lotus Pond with Bumble Bees. 2021. Courtesy of A. Ramachandran.

His visual language gradually shifted to a lyrical engagement with life and nature with rustic, sensuous female figures in natural environs replacing his earlier twisted male bodies. The conscious incorporation of Indian art forms like miniature painting and murals was distinctly visible along with the use of mythical motifs and imagery, decorative elements along with the exuberance of forms and colours. On his visit to Rajasthan during this time he was particularly moved by the sight of wild lotus ponds of Ubeshwar, Nagada, Jogi Talab and Ekalinji, some of which were protected by the Bhil community given their gradual disappearance. This prompted him to do a lot of paintings of the ponds. The rhythmic contour lines, the decorative patterns of nature, and the wonderful use of colour make these paintings and his current work immensely captivating. 

Ramachandra laments the modern Indian painting which he feels places a lot of emphasis on the currents in the European art world. Places like New York or Paris are presumed to be landmarks of current art and that is where Indian artists flock, learn, and come back as “half-British men, half-French men, half-American” to make Indian versions of it. Ultimately this kind of art does not connect to the masses. But Ramachandra is asking us to go back to our roots, excavate our rich heritage and create art that, like the literature of Premchand, Basheer and Manto, speaks to the people. 

By Digvijay Nikam 

References

1. Sahapedia: Ella Datta in Conversation with A. Ramachandran: Making of an Artist
2. Art of Ramachandran
3. The Hindu: “Don’t read anything into my art”: A. Ramachandran
4. Sahapedia: Ella Datta in Conversation with A. Ramachandran: Indianising Indian Art