A. Ramachandran
| Story Text | [{"storytext":"\u2018There is something immensely ludicrous about the fat friar-like figures arranged to devote feigned dignity, lewd beckoning, and a gesture of prayer. Yet these are not flesh and blood figures, we see, on closer examination. They could be dummies, great inflated things that are tethered to white cords, the white lines that break up the bottom of the composition so effectively. There are, therefore, two themes here: (1) the shallowness of religious life as practiced by the priests, and (2) the shallowness of the superficial vision of people who even if they read this theme right, are carried off by their own associations. We are not quite sure who the painter is laughing at\u2019. \u2013 Richard Bartholomew<\/i>","record_id":"0","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"1","storytext":"This painting is from the first solo exhibition A. Ramachandran had, in 1966, in New Delhi, winning him critical accolades and appreciation. ","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"2","storytext":"Its dark tones were in keeping with his overall mood as \u2018an angry young man\u2019, though it might also have to do with the inadequate availability of painting material in the country at the time. Most Indian artists used a similar palette during the 1950s and \u201960s. ","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"3","storytext":"The title, Gestures, refers to the expressive palms that the artist has placed across the width of the composition to vocalise the sentiments of his protagonists\u2014the street-cleaners of Delhi\u2019s Bhogal colony.","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"4","storytext":"Having moved from Santiniketan to New Delhi in 1964, the scavenging women he saw every morning made a compelling subject with their strident voices and masculine traits. ","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"5","storytext":"The women were veiled so Ramachandran was unable to see their faces\u2014the reason why he has chosen to disregard this feature by diminishing their size and painting them as dark voids.","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"6","storytext":"Their torsos, on the other hand, did not demand a similar modesty of them, so Ramachandran has painted them with a degree of prominence\u2014almost like bulging pots.","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"7","storytext":"Because he could not see their legs under their skirts, he has painted these like stilts, to depict them balancing their voluminous bodies in a caricaturist manner.","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"8","storytext":"Ramachandran\u2019s painting at the time drew comparisons with Francis Bacon for the manner in which he described the bodies\u2014muscled, sinewy, and grotesque","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"9","storytext":"This was the only droll painting in that first exhibition, all others being more sombre, one of which is now in the collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"10","storytext":"At least one critic described the figures as \u2018friar-like\u2019 and thought the hand gestures were indicative of \u2018avarice and greed\u2019.","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"11","storytext":"The veiled face would reappear in Ramachandran\u2019s later painting, chiefly his Nuclear Ragini and Yayati series.","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"12","storytext":"This painting is a triptych. From the start of his career, Ramachandran\u2014who had trained as a muralist\u2014was drawn to working on large-scale paintings.","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"13","storytext":"A prominent characteristic of the painting is the way the artist has handled the colours black and white with suggestions of light to add to add its chiaroscurist quality.","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"14","storytext":"Ramachandran signed his paintings in Malayalam at the start of his career till he was asked to switch to signing in English for wider reach and accessibility.","initialize":"true"},{"record_id":"15","storytext":"The \u2018angry young man\u2019 who painted this work would eventually turn compassionate\u2014in his feelings as well as his work\u2014breathing life into a different aesthetic, making this a rare early work to depict his emotional and artistic status at the time.","initialize":"true"}] |
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| Art Artist Names Single | A. Ramachandran |
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