the wondering eye

RUPIKA CHAWLA

Some time ago, a collector brought me a Ram Kumar oil painting made on board for restoration. The work belonged to the early ’60s, which was the beginning of Ram Kumar’s abstract period.

It showed the disintegration of the human figure which had started during this time, leading gradually to the abstraction which has since come to be identified with Ram Kumar.

But what was more interesting was that on the reverse side of the board there was another painting. Faint outlines were visible through a yellowish application of oil paint. The words ‘Ram Kumar ’61’ and the size of the painting was written in green over the concealed work.

The Ram Kumar before (above) and after restoration

Hoping to establish an idea about the work, which was hidden, I took it for an x-ray. Unfortunately, all that the x-ray was able to reveal was the grain of the board and the thick paint of the painting on the obverse side, which in any case was obvious, as it was the revealed painting.

I telephoned Ram Kumar who made a few valid points even though he did not at that time remember this particular painting. He had in all probability covered the painting as he did not quite like it and wished to try something new, which meant that he would have used the reverse side for this. On the other hand, it was also possible that he had used the same board as he could not, in those lean days, afford new ones all the time.

Indian contemporary painters, though creatively stimulated, had problems of acquiring materials for painting during the ’50s and ’60s. Contemporary art did not have the same kind of importance it has today, resulting in certain sacrifices made by the artists while purchasing art materials. This had a resultant effect on the methods and techniques of painting. In Ram Kumar’s case, it meant covering the painting with white paint, turning it around, and making another painting on the bare side.

Over time, the white paint became a dirty yellow as it gradually acquired a layer of dirt, and then it came to me for restoration. With Ram Kumar’s information in the back of my mind, I sat down to clean the work. Cautiously I removed small areas of the dirt layer and then miniscule squares of the white paint. I had to take care not to clean in one area for too long, for then I would have endangered the painting I was working at exposing. Removal of the white paint was done with chemicals which could have affected the painting underneath had I not been careful.

The work was absorbing for I had no idea what I was going to unearth. Gradually they emerged, the family of three, under the white and the dirty yellow, proof of Ram Kumar’s concluding figurative phase, when form was overtaken by abstraction. There was a certain incompleteness in some areas, which was indicative of the fact that Ram Kumar had abandoned the painting before completing it. I found his signature at the bottom of the painting but I could not find the date. I decided to keep the date in green ink that I had found earlier until the time that he would date the painting himself.

This is not the first time that I came across a concealed painting and it certainly was not the last but it is fascinating every time it happens. Little mysteries like this arise to throw a better light on the past life of a painting and help in further art historical analysis.

The author is a Delhi-based art conservator