R. Siva Kumar

R. Siva Kumar Biography

Raman Siva Kumar, a genius from Kerala, shortly called R. Siva Kumar is a contemporary Indian art historian, art critic, and curator known worldwide. He is widely regarded as “one of the best" art historians. He researches on early Indian modernism with prime focus on Tagore’s Santiniketan School. Regarding the subject – modern art, he has conducted several lectures and has published several books. He received Kesari puraskaram for art writing by the Lalit Kala Akademi, Kerala in 2010. He has also curated several exhibitions. Among them, Santiniketan: The Making of a Contextual Modernism was conducted in the occasion of golden jubilee celebrations of Indian independence. His ‘The Last Harvest: Paintings of Rabindranath Tagore’ commissioned to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore is another significant exhibition.

R. Siva Kumar was born in Kerala. His education was completed at Kerala and Pune and later he moved to Kolkata. He took Masters’ in art history from Kala Bhavan, Shantiniketan and since 1981, teaching in the same institution, art history. His research works and writings of Abanindranath Tagore and the Santiniketan artists are really significant in the modern era. The Last Harvest: Paintings of Rabindranath Tagore was shown at ten major museums of the world including the Museum of Asian Art, Berlin; Asia Society, New York and many more. , 'The Making of a Contextual Modernism', exhibiting about a hundred works each of Nandalal Bose, Rabindranath Tagore, Ram Kinker Baij and Benode Behari Mukherjee.

He spent his entire working life researching the Bengal School of Art, especially the Santiniketan crop of painters. In 2013 he was awarded by the Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi for his book Ram Kinkar Baij - A Retrospective. He was honoured by University of Dhaka for his contribution to the Indian art.

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Updated: January 10, 2014