A. RAMACHANDRAN

Born: 1935

A Ramachandran - Artist

Biography

Born in Attingal, Kerala, Achutan Ramachandran Nair, left his hometown in 1950 when his family moved to Trivandrum. In 1957 he took the train to Santiniketan leaving Kerala forever behind him. He was never to go back there to live again except to return to it as a visitor. His native environment had provided him with a richness that he always carried in mind and spirit, deriving more inspiration from his creative imagination than perhaps he would have if he had continued to live in Kerala. Life in a village brought to him intimacy with nature early, even while he absorbed temple culture, the performing arts and Malayalam literature. But hungry to go beyond his horizons his mind churned and bubbled with new ideas and many questions. Thrust forward by his energy an his enquiring mind, his environment naturally failed to provide a solution. Ramachandran had often seen the reproductions of the Bengal School artists in the Modern Review, a journal published by Ramananda Chatterjee. Later, while in Trivandrum, he saw a reproduction of Ram Kinkar’s sculpture, Santhal Family, which impressed him greatly. Ram Kinkar lived in Santiniketan and had been influenced by, while contributing to, its essence. Ramachandran wished to belong to such a reality, meet a man like Ram Kinkar, and partake of an institution which had the capacity to have a nation-wide influence. The powerful personality of Ram Kinkar made an instant impact on the young Ramachandran who was hungry for the new and the untried.

Over the years an understanding of his own painterly philosophy has brought Ramachandran on a parallel course with Nandalal Bose, sharing with him his views not only on tradition, academic realism and the role of nature in art, but also the artistic tradition manifested in the mural paintings heritage, in the dignity of the miniatures and in the fascination with Japanese and Chinese paintings. For all the time that Ramachandran spent in observing, sketching, learning and kindling ideas in his mind which were to sprout later, like many other students in Santineketan, he questioned himself: his worth and whether he was on the right course. In 1957, he met Chameli. “fresh and fragile, shaded under a white umbrella. Chameli however, is a true critic of Ramachandran’s work, encouraging and restraining him. After many years of marriage today she continues to do the same.

As a muralist, the paintings encircling the walls of the inner shine of the Krishnaswamy temple in Attingal which he often walked past as a child always fascinated the young Ramachandran, this influenced his emergence as a mural painter later in his life. In 1963, he painted Indian Village on seven panels stretching to twenty feet, using gunny bag primed with plastic emulsion and created with encaustic. This painting was irrevocably damaged a short while after it was displayed at AIFACS in Delhi the same year.

Ramachandran,then 28, was a struggling painter - a situation he shared with most of his contemporaries. Oil paints and canvases, if available, were expensive, for which reason most painters tried other materials and techniques. Wax was a great favorite. Linked with struggling nature of a young painter trying to find his feet and creative identity, was the empathy that Ramachandran found with the masses and those exerting their bodies and muscles to bring in a dignity to their lives. While working on murals, Ramachandran realized that large mural type paintings which have to be viewed from a distance can acquire visual distortions if they have planar irregularities. He gradually evolved a method of using minimal, almost monochromatic oil paint which served the dual function of helping him economize on its usage and of achieving a relatively smooth surface. Ramachandran can start with one canvas, discover that he needs three and end with five. Their openendedness remains, nonetheless, and with that the capacity to go on. Neither mental composition nor the actual structure can be constricted. While paintings expand laterally in the true mural fashion, they can climb upwards as well in the manner of the true mural again. It was in the visual and thematic play of mobile wide spaces that the art of the muralist was born.

Ramachandran-Art

Ramachandran graduated with a Degree in Malayalam Literature from Kerala University before going on to study art at Viswa Bharati University at Santiniketan. His most recent shows include ‘Dhyanachitra’ and ‘Bahurupi’ New Delhi, in 2012 and 2009 respectively; London in 2008; Mumbai and New York, 2007-08; New Delhi, 2006, 2005, and 2001; Nami Island, South Korea, 2005; New Delhi, 1998, 2002; He has participated in numerous group exhibitions, in Hong Kong and Los Angeles, 2001; the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 1982; the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1982; and the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, 1977. Ramachandran lives and works in New Delhi and Kochi.

Text Reference:
Excerpt from the book Ramachandran ‘The Art of the Muralist’ written by Rupika Chawla, published by Kala Yatra & Sistas Publication in 1994

Awards

  • Nama Concours Award for writing and illustrating a children’s book, 1978
  • Nama Concours Award for writing and illustrating a children’s book, 1980
  • Padma Bhushan, Government of India, 2005

Books

  • A. Ramachandran “A Retrospective" Drawing, Sketches, Studies 1958-2014
  • A. Ramachandran “Yayati" Limited Edition Serigraphs
  • A. Ramachandran: Life and Art in Lines - Drawings, Sketches and Studies 1958-2014 Vol. 1 and Vol. 2
  • A. Ramachandran “Selected Works from 1964-2013"
  • A. Ramachandran “Bahrupi"
  • A. Ramachandran “Art of the Muralist"
  • A. Ramachandran “Icons of the Raw Earth"
  • A Study based on the Yayati Series
  • Abode of God: Mural Traditions of Kerala
  • The Art of Ramachandran

Top 10 Auction Records

Title Price Realized
Untitled (Crucifixion); Untitled (after Crucifixion of Mathias Grünewald) USD 86,500
Hardari from Pai Village USD 80,500
Yellow Robe USD 68,750
Untitled (Lotus Pond) USD 66,000
Roski as a Young Bride USD 50,400
Kaleidoscope: Study for Kaleidoscope USD 37,500
Visions of Ramden USD 16,800
Untitled GBP 12,500
Spiral Six USD 12,000
The Angle USD 11,950