Correct Answer : February 10, 2024
In the ’60s, at a time when a lot of Indian art and many artists were still looking at the West for guidance, A Ramachandran found a language that was rooted in home — in the temples of Kerala that he had observed closely as a child and the realism and humanism of Santiniketan, where he was a student in the ’50s. Witnessing violence on the streets of Delhi in the ’80s may have led him to reject cataclysmic images for more joyous portrayals that celebrated nature, but his leanings continued to challenge conventions. “He was somebody who worked against the tide in different ways throughout his life,” says art critic and historian R Siva Kumar.
On 10th February 2024, that undaunted voice that challenged norms was silenced forever. Ramachandran passed away in Delhi due to kidney issues. He was 88.
About A Ramachandran :
Born in Attingal, Kerala, it was a chance encounter with Ramkinkar Baij’s iconic sculpture Santhal Family (1938) that took the postgraduate in Malayalam literature to Santinketan on a scholarship to study Kerala’s mural art. Well-versed with the writings of authors such as Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, Saadat Hasan Manto, and Fyodor Dostoevsky, the disquietude of their words was to influence his imagery, as did his teachers such as Benode Behari Mukherjee and Baij, who emphasised on free expression.
Exposed to the “miseries of life” upon his arrival at the Sealdah Station (Kolkata), which was teeming with people post-Partition, Ramachandran’s early imagery reflected pain and misery. If in Kali Puja (1972) the terrorising figures responded to the Naxal movement, End of Yadavas (1973) warned of an apocalyptic future. His version of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, in 1968, had headless men around a table with their hands raised and an emaciated Christ under the table.
The incentive of a regular stipend offered by Delhi’s Kumar Art Gallery in the ’60s brought him to the Capital But Ramachandran was unfazed in continuing his pursuits rooted in tradition and society. The artist-pedagogue who joined Jamia Milia Islamia in 1965 played a pivotal role in working towards the establishment of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Jamia with artist-colleague Paramjit Singh. He also inspired several youngsters to dream through children’s books that he illustrated using traditional art forms with his wife Chameli. “As kids, we grew up surrounded by nature, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. I listened to stories from my grandmother, played near the river, climbed trees, and collected flowers for festivals — these experiences influenced my sensibilities. Children growing up in nuclear families don’t have these experiences. When Chameli and I started designing books, we took the role of a grandparent for our children,” he stated in an interview with The Indian Express in 2023..
Source : Indian Express
