Ram Kumar - Indian Abstract Art

 

Ram Kumar (1924 – 2018) was an Indian artist and writer who has been described as one of India's foremost abstract painters.He was associated with the Progressive artists' group along with greats like M.F. Hussain, Tyeb Mehta, S.H. Raza.He is said to be one of the first Indian artists to give up figurativism for abstract art. His art commands high prices in the domestic and international market. His work "The Vagabond" fetched $1.1 million at Christie's, setting another world record for the artist. He is also one of the few Indian Modernist masters accomplished in writing as well as painting. "At the onset of what is known as “phase of alienation” in Ram Kumar’s paintings, something was happening very quietly, almost imperceptibly. The figure, which played so important a role in the entire drama of his odyssey, was already being a retreat, slowly, hesitantly, receding into the margins, almost merging with the dark greys and browns of the horizons. And what till then only vaguely lurked in the background, occupy the central stage. It is significant that at this stage when Ram Kumar takes a decisive step into what is known as the non-figurative world of abstraction, he also bids farewell to the literary moorings and its expressionistic entourage. Without negating the writer in him, he begins to travel light as a painter. Poetry is still there, with all its lyrical ardour and dramatic intensity but now it acquires a kind of austere brilliance, a certain ascetic purity which can be vividly seen in his Varanasi paintings. But more than its technical innovations, the so-called abstract phase was an attempt to resolve a deeper problem which seemed to trouble Ram Kumar at his fateful juncture. At the later stage, nature came both as a release from his past and a return to it. Simla with all its mountains have called Ram Kumar many time which led to his return. It was in his stories that they made a strong presence, not merely as a setting for background but as an integral part of the fictional landscape. Also a nostalgic longing for a past gone for ever. They also symbolized peace and inner security, as if by returning to them, one can salvage a spark of happiness from the ruins of one’s adulthood."/ram-kumar.com/

Manuel Felguerez Barra

 

Manuel Felguerez Barra (1928 –2020) was a Mexican abstract artist, part of the Generación de la Ruptura that broke with the muralist movement of Diego Rivera and others in the mid 20th century.Manuel Felguérez - artist whose works are still being displayed across Mexico. One of the most important members of the Generación de la Ruptura, Felguérez was honored with the prestigious Premio Nacional de Artes in 1988. A multi-talented person, Felguérez was also a sculptor and teacher; he worked as a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.Felguérez was born in Zacatecas in 1928, but political instability caused his family to lose their land there and move to Mexico City. In 1947, he had the chance to travel to Europe and impressed with the art there, decided to dedicate himself to the vocation. Unhappy with the education at the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico, he did most of his studies in France, where he specialized in abstract art, something that was not accepted in Mexico at the time. His exhibitions were initially limited to galleries and the production of "sculpted murals" using materials such as scrap metals, stones and sand. As attitudes in Mexico changed towards art, Felguérez found acceptance for his work and remains active at over eighty years of age.

Gordon Onslow Ford

 

 Gordon Onslow Ford ( 1912 – 2003) was one of the last surviving members of the 1930s Paris surrealist group surrounding André Breton.Born in England in 1912 to a family of artists, Gordon Onslow Ford began painting at an early age. His grandfather, Edward Onslow Ford, was a renowned Victorian sculptor. At the age of 11, he began painting landscapes under the guidance of his uncle. Following the death of his father at age 14, he was sent to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. The ocean affected him deeply and his early works depicted ocean scenes. The metaphor of taking a "voyage" later became an important aspect of his paintings.Wikipedia

 

Arturo Rivera

 

 Arturo Rivera (1945 –2020) was a Mexican painter based in Mexico City. He lived for eight years in New York City where he worked as a kitchen helper, construction worker and as a worker in a paint factory to support his painting. In 1979, artist Max Zimmerman saw Rivera's work at the Latin American Institute on Madison Street and invited him to Munich as an assistant teacher at the Kunstakademie. After a year of intensive work and studies he returned to Mexico. In 1982 his work was featured in a solo exhibition at the Museo de Arte Moderno.He exposes through his art the horrors of the world, of nature, of dreams and imagination as well as painting portraits, self portraits, characters, landscapes, and objects of classic beauty into his intricate compositions. His main materials are acrylic, watercolor, caseine, graphite, compte crayons, oil pastels, egg tempera, and creta paint.His work has been exhibited throughout Mexico and abroad (Francis Gallery NYC, Jack Gallery SoHo NYC, Walton Galley of Chicago, Haus der Kunst of Munich, etc.).Arturo Rivera died October 2020.