Lines from an Artistic Life

Born in 1938 in Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, KM Adimoolam’s natural aptitude for drawing at an early age made him move to Chennai in 1959. There, under the infl uence of the sculptor Dhanapal, he enrolled in the School of Arts and Crafts. After completing his Diploma in Advanced Painting in 1966, Adimoolam started a series of black-and-white portraits of Mahatma Gandhi. Sketching from photographs of the great man, he fi nished nearly 100 drawings that covered over 60 years of the Mahatma’s life.

At about this time, Adimoolam came into contact with Tamil writers and began an association with them, illustrating their works, after which he took up oil painting. Colour came into his life, causing him to move from the fi gurative to the abstract.

Adimoolam now works with equal ease at drawing and painting, combining the two to produce a large body
of work. The recipient of many honours and awards, his works are held in numerous public and private collections in India and abroad. This book will appeal to all those with an interest in drawing, contemporary art and Indian culture.