A. Ramachandran Museum

A. Ramachandran (1935-2024) was one of India’s most distinguished artists. For over six decades, he consistently experimented with visual language and expression. As a painter, sculptor, graphic artist, designer, and educator, he produced a diverse range of artworks throughout his long and prolific artistic career. He held around forty major exhibitions of his paintings, sculptures, watercolours, graphics, and drawings in various cities across India. A unique modernist, Ramachandran’s extensive, immersive exploration of the Indian, Asian, and non-Western artistic traditions, especially after the mid-80s, forged his distinctive visual imagery and inimitable artistic style.

Ramachandran was born on August 29, 1935, in Attingal, Kerala. He showed a strong passion for art from a very young age, filling his schoolbooks with drawings and scribbling on walls despite occasional reprimands. His early artistic sensibilities were shaped by oil portraits of his ancestors, reproductions of Bengal School art, and exposure to Kerala’s mural tradition through visits to local temples with his mother. A pivotal moment occurred when he visited Sri Chithralayam (Sri Chithra Art Gallery) in Thiruvananthapuram, where he encountered the original works of Raja Ravi Varma and Bengal School artists, inspiring him to dedicate his life to art.

He learned Carnatic music for ten years in childhood and regularly performed at the All India Radio in Thiruvananthapuram in his early youth. Ramachandran completed an MA programme in Malayalam literature at Kerala University. During this time, he formed connections with several significant writers associated with the Progressive Literary Movement in the state, which shaped his political views. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he illustrated some forty stories for the Sahithya Pravarthaka Cooperative Society, Kerala writers’ association, published by the National Book Stall (NBS).

In 1957, he attended Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan, West Bengal, to study art. He received his training in Kala Bhavana under the guidance of masters, such as Ramkinkar Baij and Benode Behari Mukherjee. This experience had a profound impact on his art practice. In Santiniketan, Ramachandran was drawn to the genius of Ramkinkar Baij. Ramachandran’s first instruction from Ramkinkar was to go out into nature and sketch, a practice he continued throughout his life. While his grandfather had instilled an appreciation for nature well before Santiniketan, Baij encouraged Ramachandran to carefully study nature’s myriad forms and sketch consistently. The teachings of Nandalal Bose, who viewed drawing as an integral part of art education, also shaped his art practice. He found immense freedom in Santiniketan, overcoming his earlier inhibitions about sketching from life in the more conservative environment of Kerala.

Ramachandran moved to New Delhi in 1964. A year later, he began teaching at Jamia Millia Islamia while actively working as an artist. As an influential and inspiring teacher, he trained and mentored several generations of art students. He played a pivotal role in developing this art institution into a full-fledged faculty. In 2002, he was appointed Professor Emeritus at the university

Together with his wife, artist Chameli Ramachandran, he wrote and illustrated numerous picture books for children, which were published internationally. In these books, he and Chameli experimented with diverse Indian folk art styles, such as Madhubani and Warli tribal art.

Ramachandran’s early works addressed social and political concerns, often employing a satirical tone. The writings of Dostoyevsky decisively influenced his creative outputs from 1965 to 1975, imbuing his work with a sense of despair and revolt against societal injustices. However, a striking transformation occurred when he began visiting Rajasthan. He gradually moved towards integrating human life with nature, which led to the emergence of magical realism.

This significant shift in his artistic journey occurred concurrently with his deeper engagement with Indian art traditions and their visual codes, beginning with his monumental painting Yayati (1984-86).

This grand work marked his departure from a purely sociopolitical figurative style towards exploring mythology and Eastern aesthetics. His study of Kerala mural paintings culminated in a comprehensive publication, which also profoundly shaped his artistic approach. He was similarly inspired by Ajanta and Ellora cave paintings, particularly their mastery of lines and colours. His travels to Japan, Korea, and China further exposed him to Asian art, where nature plays a prominent role.

Starting in the mid-1970s, his frequent visits to Udaipur, the surrounding Bhil villages (such as Undhri and Pai), and the lotus ponds (like those in Eklingji and Nagda, among others) became essential sources of artistic inspiration. The lotus pond ultimately emerged as one of his most enduring themes, extensively explored in paintings, drawings, and watercolours. He found the lotus pond, teeming with vibrant life, and the surrounding landscape captivating. His engagement with the Bhil communities allowed him to create a unique visual fantasy that celebrates the beauty of life and nature.

Ramachandran was a multifaceted artist who pursued sculpture alongside his painting practice. Although he was drawn to sculpture from the outset, the medium’s technical complexities, high casting costs, and its physical demands, especially in his later years, limited the number of sculptures he produced. Nevertheless, whenever possible, he experimented with materials such as clay, cement, and eventually bronze. Among his most notable sculptures is the Monumental Gandhi, which embodies his profound admiration for Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of ahimsa (non-violence) and tolerance. Several of his sculptures feature his image, engaging with themes of self-representation and mythology, as seen in works like Bahurupi and Self-Portrait with Ramkinkar. His image also recurs in other forms throughout his broader body of later work — sometimes appearing as a bird, bat, bee, or other creatures — becoming a recognizable motif of his art.

Drawing was an integral part of Ramachandran’s art practice, and he created over five thousand drawings, sketches, and studies over six decades. He regarded drawing as a fundamental way to comprehend the world, much like a blind person uses touch to perceive it. His drawings served as documentation, a means to enhance his skills, and an opportunity for experimentation with different lines.

Ramachandran extensively studied the Kerala temple mural paintings, starting as a PhD research scholar in 1962. Although financial and other challenges prevented him from completing this project and submitting his dissertation, he later resumed his research. This extended study was published as The Painted Abode of Gods: Mural Traditions of Kerala in 2005. Ramachandran also integrated the large format, vibrant colour schemes, and complex pictorial structures of these temple murals into his visual grammar and art practice.

As Chairperson of the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi, he organized a momentous exhibition of Raja Ravi Varma at the National Museum in New Delhi in 1993.

Ramachandran’s broad intellectual engagement with art formed a central dimension of his artistic practice. In addition to sketching regularly and painting daily, he devoted many hours to the careful study of art books. Over the years, he built a substantial collection of art books covering a diverse range of subjects, periods, and geographical areas. Displayed in the original bookshelves from his studio, Ramachandran’s extensive collection of art books is accessible to artists, visual scholars and art students for research and reference at the Dhyana Chitra: A Visual Cultural Research Lab in the Lalithakala Akademi complex, Kochi, Kerala.

Throughout his career, Ramachandran received numerous honours, including the National Award, the Noma Concours Award for Picture Book Illustrations from the Asia-Pacific Cultural Center for UNESCO, Lalit Kala Academi Fellowship, Parishad Samman, Gagan-Abani Puraskar, Manaviyam Award, Ravi Varma Puraskaram, and Padma Bhushan from the Government of India. He held significant exhibitions in India and abroad, including several retrospective shows at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.

Ramachandran died on February 10, 2024, in New Delhi.

A. Ramachandran’s art stands out for its originality and independent spirit, consistently gravitating towards non-Western art traditions and modernisms. His later work embraced the beauty and pleasures of the world, reflecting his deep connection to nature and the tribal communities he encountered in Rajasthan. His artistic journey was a continuous process of observation, assimilation, and transformation, resulting in a unique and significant contribution to modern Indian art.