Mapping with Figures

KS Radhakrishnan is a leading contemporary sculptor of national and international acclaim whose sculptures are exclusively executed in the medium of bronze. His intervention in the revival of figurative tradition in Indian sculptural parlance with an emphasis on the body has been acknowledged as a significant art historical milestone. Trained under the supervision of two important modernists Ramkinkar Baij and Sarbari Roy Choudhury, Radhakrishnan has developed an inimitable style which emphasise fluid, dynamic, extra-ordinary body types using two characters Musui and Maiya. His works have been displayed in “Triennalle India” (1990),” Hippodrome d’Longchamp,” Paris (1996); “Espace Michel Simon-Noisy Le Grand,” France (1996), “Beijing Biennale” (2012).

R Sivakumar’s informative essay on the sculptural journey of KS Radhakrishnan is an art historical gem for serious lovers of art. Mapping with Figures is a highly focused study of the artist’s works from the past fifteen years which offers an insightful account of the significance of KS Radhakrishnan in contemporary Indian art. It restores a sense of history, complemented by a fascinating background check on the formations of Radhakrishnan as an artist.

Contents: 1. Publisher’s Note; 2. Foreword by Director, NGMA, Bengaluru; 3. Mapping the world with Human Figure by R Sivakumar; 4. Biographical Profile.

• Rare monograph on one of India’s finest sculptors
• Richly textured narrative placing the artist in the context of Indian modernism

KS Radhakrishnan is a leading contemporary sculptor of national and international acclaim whose sculptures are exclusively executed in the medium of bronze. His intervention in the revival of figurative tradition in Indian sculptural parlance with an emphasis on the body has been acknowledged as a significant art historical milestone. Trained under the supervision of two important modernists Ramkinkar Baij and Sarbari Roy Choudhury, Radhakrishnan has developed an inimitable style which emphasize fluid, dynamic, extra-ordinary body types using two characters Musui and Maiya. His works have been displayed in “Triennalle India” (1990),” Hippodrome d’Longchamp,” Paris (1996); “Espace Michel Simon-Noisy Le Grand,” France (1996), “Beijing Biennale” (2012).

R Sivakumar’s informative essay on the sculptural journey of KS Radhakrishnan is an art historical gem for serious lovers of art. Mapping with Figures is a highly focused study of the artist’s works from the past fifteen years which offers an insightful account of the significance of KS Radhakrishnan in contemporary Indian art. It restores a sense of history, complemented by a fascinating background check on the formations of Radhakrishnan as an artist.

Contents: 1. Publisher’s Note; 2. Foreword by Director, NGMA, Bengaluru; 3. Mapping the world with Human Figure by R Sivakumar; 4. Biographical Profile.

R Sivakumar, one of the foremost art historians in India, is professor of History of Art at Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan. He was responsible for charting out a seminal scholarship on the modernist interventions of artists from Santiniketan. His significant contribution to Indian art was heralded with his monograph Santiniketan: The Making of a Contextual Modernism (1997), which was followed by extensive studies and curatorial manuscripts on prominent Indian artists including Rabindranath Tagore, K.G. Subramanyan, Benodebehari Mukherjee, Ramkinkar Baij and others. His significant publications include The Santiniketan Murals, 1995; K.G. Subramanyan: A Retrospective, 2003; My Pictures: A Collection of
Paintings by Rabindranath Tagore, 2005.