Ram Kumar (b.1924) was among India’s leading modernists. His early works are mostly figurative. However, as he returned from Europe, his works became semi-figurative and later ended up being motifs of cityscapes and landscapes. Another shift came after his visit with M.F Husain to Varanasi (1960). The mood of the city, being surrounded by the sorrows on the ghats and the reality striking about life and death, affected his visual language. He adopted a more muted colour scheme, using blues, greys and pale yellows. This shift brought about a touch of abstraction in his practice, reflecting in the trees, houses and geography of his landscapes.
He studied Economics at St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi (1946) and went to Paris to study painting under Andre Lhote and Fernand Leger (1949-1952). Kumar has received the National Award (1956,1958) and the Padma Shri by the Indian government (1971).