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K. Ramanujam (1941 -1973)
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Lot 17
K. Ramanujam (1941 -1973)
Estimate : 12,00,000 - 17,00,000

“When the artist K.Ramanujam passed away in the early hours of Monday, June 4, 1973, he left behind a modest body of work that continues to stimulate collectors’ imagination to this day, along with abundant speculation on why he took his own life and where he went after death. 


Born mentally unwell into an orthodox Iyengar family in Triplicane, Madras, Ramanujam was often beset by strange visions and irrepressible fantasies. ‘His speech was never distinct and his comprehension was fearfully at odds with that of those around him.’ His condition eventually led Ramanujam to be socially alienated and he found refuge in making art, particularly in the process of drawing. At the Government College of Arts and Crafts where he studied, he trained under K.C.S. Paniker. He later moved to Cholamandal Artists’ Village. For the first time, he got an opportunity to explore his thoughts at both these places. Freed from the shackles of traditional society, he ‘changed his manner of dressing from dhoti to pyjamas, tasted meat and even taught himself to smoke.’ In order to be  accepted socially as someone sophisticated, he organized story-telling sessions at Cholamandal with tea and snacks and was encouraged by Paniker in his narrations. Nonetheless, he was still a recluse who lived in his own world—a solitary figure who marched to the beat of his own drum. His art is reflective of his solitude and inner state of mind.


Through select media such as pen and ink, and oils, he rendered himself whimsically in the midst of seemingly religious and mythological characters, hybrid, feathered or scaled creatures, in otherworldly places and as curiously floating atop clouds or submersed in water. Always dressed as a westerner who sometimes donned a hat, he recurrently portrayed himself as the sole male individual in the company of celestial female winged beings who seemed as though they were guarding the gates of paradise. It is possible that Ramanujam was attempting to illustrate Vaishnavite ideas of spiritual ascent as many of his compositions correspond to literary texts (particularly to those written by the saint Nammalwar) on the same subject. Through an economical use of line and colour, he built fantastical worlds consisting of grand palaces and ornate structures, plants, palanquins and beasts visually inspired by  European art and architecture, popular magazines illustrations, Chandamama stories, palmistry, Tamil cinema, folk art and forms from his own upbringing steeped in Hindu religion and culture such as Drishti dolls, Ganesha, Trisoolam (trident), Sudarshana Chakra (disk) and Panchajanya (conch shell) among others. Using a small format to present his nearly apparitional experiences, Ramanujam obsessively created works that were at once joyous yet melancholic, intimate yet distant, complex yet child-like. Due to the highly personal nature of his works and his interest in the dreamlike and surreal, Ramanujam’s works have been compared to that of Marc Chagall and James Ensor. His artwork is also known to have influenced contemporary artists such as C. Douglas with whom he shared a special friendship.”


Reference:

“In Fear and Fantasy,” Vrishchik, Year 4, no.2, June 1973, https://issuu.com/asiaartarchivehk/docs/gms_vrishchik1973_yr4.2 

Ashvin E. Rajagopalan and Vaishnavi Ramanathan, “K. Ramanujam,” SMRITI: Art from the Piramal Collection (Mumbai: Piramal Art Foundation, 2015), 432; “In Fear and Fantasy,” Vrishchik, Year 4, no.2, June 1973, https://issuu.com/asiaartarchivehk/docs/gms_vrishchik1973_yr4.2.
 Sanjana Srinivasan, curatorial text for the exhibition K. Ramanujam: On the Other Side of Life on display at Ashvita’s Gallery, Chennai, India between December 2019 and January 2020.


Hammer Price :
12,00,000
+ Buyer premium (0 %)
 0.00
Total
12,00,000
The lot has ended
  • Collection: Oleographs, Lithographs, woodcut prints, etching, and screen- and offset prints Collection: Oleographs, Lithographs, woodcut prints, etching, and screen- and offset prints
Description

“When the artist K.Ramanujam passed away in the early hours of Monday, June 4, 1973, he left behind a modest body of work that continues to stimulate collectors’ imagination to this day, along with abundant speculation on why he took his own life and where he went after death. 


Born mentally unwell into an orthodox Iyengar family in Triplicane, Madras, Ramanujam was often beset by strange visions and irrepressible fantasies. ‘His speech was never distinct and his comprehension was fearfully at odds with that of those around him.’ His condition eventually led Ramanujam to be socially alienated and he found refuge in making art, particularly in the process of drawing. At the Government College of Arts and Crafts where he studied, he trained under K.C.S. Paniker. He later moved to Cholamandal Artists’ Village. For the first time, he got an opportunity to explore his thoughts at both these places. Freed from the shackles of traditional society, he ‘changed his manner of dressing from dhoti to pyjamas, tasted meat and even taught himself to smoke.’ In order to be  accepted socially as someone sophisticated, he organized story-telling sessions at Cholamandal with tea and snacks and was encouraged by Paniker in his narrations. Nonetheless, he was still a recluse who lived in his own world—a solitary figure who marched to the beat of his own drum. His art is reflective of his solitude and inner state of mind.


Through select media such as pen and ink, and oils, he rendered himself whimsically in the midst of seemingly religious and mythological characters, hybrid, feathered or scaled creatures, in otherworldly places and as curiously floating atop clouds or submersed in water. Always dressed as a westerner who sometimes donned a hat, he recurrently portrayed himself as the sole male individual in the company of celestial female winged beings who seemed as though they were guarding the gates of paradise. It is possible that Ramanujam was attempting to illustrate Vaishnavite ideas of spiritual ascent as many of his compositions correspond to literary texts (particularly to those written by the saint Nammalwar) on the same subject. Through an economical use of line and colour, he built fantastical worlds consisting of grand palaces and ornate structures, plants, palanquins and beasts visually inspired by  European art and architecture, popular magazines illustrations, Chandamama stories, palmistry, Tamil cinema, folk art and forms from his own upbringing steeped in Hindu religion and culture such as Drishti dolls, Ganesha, Trisoolam (trident), Sudarshana Chakra (disk) and Panchajanya (conch shell) among others. Using a small format to present his nearly apparitional experiences, Ramanujam obsessively created works that were at once joyous yet melancholic, intimate yet distant, complex yet child-like. Due to the highly personal nature of his works and his interest in the dreamlike and surreal, Ramanujam’s works have been compared to that of Marc Chagall and James Ensor. His artwork is also known to have influenced contemporary artists such as C. Douglas with whom he shared a special friendship.”


Reference:

“In Fear and Fantasy,” Vrishchik, Year 4, no.2, June 1973, https://issuu.com/asiaartarchivehk/docs/gms_vrishchik1973_yr4.2 

Ashvin E. Rajagopalan and Vaishnavi Ramanathan, “K. Ramanujam,” SMRITI: Art from the Piramal Collection (Mumbai: Piramal Art Foundation, 2015), 432; “In Fear and Fantasy,” Vrishchik, Year 4, no.2, June 1973, https://issuu.com/asiaartarchivehk/docs/gms_vrishchik1973_yr4.2.
 Sanjana Srinivasan, curatorial text for the exhibition K. Ramanujam: On the Other Side of Life on display at Ashvita’s Gallery, Chennai, India between December 2019 and January 2020.


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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using 'Content here, content here', making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for 'lorem ipsum' will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

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