Footnotes

Provenance
Property from a private collection, London.

'Over the years, I have had 17 shows in London, two in Florence and then in Bombay... Calcutta. I had five shows with M.F. Husain. He always stayed with us and always encouraged me. He made me change from oil to acrylic because he said oils after a long period eventually lose their colour... they fade. I am almost self-taught. The work that I have done over the years... not that I was trying to be different, but you know every time I finished with a show and then went back to it after a break, I found (smiles) that I was doing something different. There was a change. I thought what was happening to me? I mentioned this to Husainsaab and he said that this happened to every artist... 'I can't pick up the brush and do a horse identical to the one I did last time,' he said.' (Sunita Kumar in The Telegraph online, 14th April 2025, https://www.telegraphindia.com/entertainment/a-life-surrounded-by-art-is-fun-mdash-painter-sunita-kumar-tells-t2-nbsp/cid/1428388)

Kumar's Untiled(Indian Figures) is a serene and contemplative composition that gently captures the rhythms of everyday life in India. In this work, Kumar has placed a man and a woman in the foreground, quietly poised, while behind them are two children and three workers, two of whom are carrying pots balanced gracefully atop their heads. This carefully structured scene is imbued with quiet dignity and balance, evoking a timeless simplicity.

Rendered in a muted palette of earthy tones, the painting exudes a sense of calm and restraint. True to Kumar's signature style, the figures' faces are devoid of distinct features, a deliberate artistic device that universalizes their identity, allowing them to embody a collective spirit rather than individual personas. The simplified, faceless expressions evoke stillness and introspection, directing focus to posture, gesture, and setting rather than emotion.

Kumar, known for her gentle and lyrical interpretations of Indian life, often elevates the ordinary through subtle abstraction and poetic nuance. In Untitled (Indian Figures), the interplay of the foreground and background, the domestic and the labouring, creates a quietly layered tableau. Through this understated yet evocative work, Kumar offers a visual meditation on community, gender roles, and the quiet grace of the everyday.

Kumar's most recent exhibition took place at The Promenade Lounge, Taj Bengal, Bengal from April 10th - 15th 2025.