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Akumal Ramachander (July 10, 1949, Bombay– December 26, 2024, Bangalore) was an Indian teacher, art critic and author who gained international recognition after discovering and promoting American abstract expressionist painter Harold Shapinsky. He was the subject of a BBC Channel 4 documentary The Painter and the Pest (1985) with commentary by Salman Rushdie who pointed out that here was an example where Western talent was discovered by someone from the East. Ramachander was also recognized by the Polish government for his services in promoting Polish culture in India.

Early life and education

Ramachander was born on July 10, 1949 to a Telugu-speaking family in Bombay, India. The family moved to Calcutta, where he spent some of his early childhood. His father was in the Indian Army and the family had been stationed in various places around India, enabling him to gain proficiency in several Indian languages. The family eventually settled in Bangalore when Ramachander was 16. He attended National College in Bangalore, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in physics, chemistry and mathematics in 1968. Changing disciplines, he received his master's degree in 1971 from Central College in Bangalore.

Career

Ramachander taught English at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, where he attained the position of assistant professor. Devoting much of his spare time to promoting art, he also developed a keen interest in arthouse cinema. He was exposed to Polish cinema during a film festival in 1979. He was particularly fascinated with the films of Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi.

It all started here in 1979… I even brought out a four-page supplement on films of Polish director K Zanussi.

— Akumal Ramachander, On receiving his award from the Polish government, 2009

Zanussi noticed the supplement and invited Ramachander to the 1980 Gdansk film festival. He was captivated by Polish culture, which he felt was vibrant and resembled Indian traditions in that respect.

Harold Shapinsky Discovery and International Recognition

On a visit to the United States in the fall of 1984, to lecture on Indian politics and cinema, he stopped in Chicago to visit a friend, the poet and linguist A K Ramanujan. He attended a party hosted by the department of South Asia studies at the University of Chicago. There he met an American graduate student, David Shapinsky, whom he also encountered by chance the next day at the University of Chicago library. David spoke of his father, Harold Shapinsky, a hitherto unknown abstract expressionist painter from New York, and showed him some slides of his father’s paintings. Ramachander was mesmerized with Shapinsky's use of flowing movements and intense colours, reminding him of butterflies he had encountered during his youth, and resolved to promote his work.

At his expense he had the paintings professionally photographed at Harold Shapinsky’s apartment in New York. He contacted about 30 galleries in Manhattan, but no one there was willing to look at the slides. Taking his chances in London, he arrived unannounced at the lobby of the Tate Gallery, and managed to persuade Ronald Alley of the Tate to review the slides. Alley was impressed with Shapinsky’s work and provided Ramachander with the crucial referral he needed, a formal introduction to the director of the Mayor Gallery, James Mayor.

Now, for the first time, Akumal had become that most pukka of persons, a man who has been properly introduced.

— Salman Rusdie, The Painter and the Pest, 1985

Mayor was suitably impressed by the the slides and agreed to give Shapinsky his first solo exhibition of his 40 year career. The exhibition was held at the Mayor Gallery between May 21 and June 22, 1985. The exhibition was huge success. According to the Washington Post, the Mayor Gallery normally attracted 20 to 30 visitors a day, but the Shapinsky exhibition drew in 50 an hour, with paintings selling for $25,000 on average.

The British Channel 4 Television produced the documentary The Painter and the Pest, narrated by Salman Rushdie, about the serendipitous Shapinsky-Ramachander story. It was released in the UK by Channel 4 on June 2, 1985.

Little Pig

In 1992 Ramachander published a children's book, Little Pig, which was illustrated by Lithuanian artist Stasys Eidrigevicius. It dealt with the moral and ethical issues of animal farming which, in the opinion of some reviewers, might have been unsettling and too Orwellian a story for children.

Later life and death

After quitting his teaching job, he remained active in art circles in Bangalore, and continued to promote artists and authors on a full-time basis. He was also active in promoting Polish culture. He was decorated by the Polish government in 2009 for promoting polish culture in India.

Akumal is the real cultural ambassador of Poland to India. Single handily with his dedication and hard work he has put up Polish cultural presence on Indian map.

— Krzysztof Zanussi, On Ramachander being decorated by the Polish government, 2009

Akumal Ramachander was suffering from age-related ailments and died in Bangalore on December 26, 2024, aged 75. His body was donated to a hospital according to the wishes of his family and friends.

References

1. Lawrence Weschler, ... He was born in Bombay on the tenth of July, 1949, and his family presently moved to Calcutta..., The New York Times Archive
2. Honorary diploma awarded to music composer Akumal Ramachander, The Times of India, September 29, 2009
3. Lawrence Weschler, ...Zanussi eventually saw the supplement, and had Akumal invited to the 1980 Gdansk film festival, at the height of the Solidarity period..., The New York Times Archive
4. A Wanderer in the Perfect City, Lawrence Weschler, Shapinsky's Karma (1985), The New York Times Archive
5. Lawrence Weschler, ...As Rushdie says...
6. Exhibitions: Harold Shapinsky, The Mayor Gallery
7. Drawing a Crowd, The Washington Post Archives, July 27, 1985
8. The Painter and the Pest, IMDB
9. Little Pig, OPEN LIBRARY ISBN 10 0670843504
10. Pigs, Be Not Proud, Art Spiegelman, The New York Times
11. Little Pig, goodreads
12. Indian writer decorated by Polish government, TwoCircles.Net, October 25, 2009
13. Art promoter Akumal Ramachander passes away in Bengaluru, The Hindu, December 26, 2024

• Indian art critics
• Indian writers