‘Statue Man of India’ Ram Sutar passes away

Ram Vanji Sutar, one of India’s most prolific sculptors, died on Thursday (December 18, 2025) in Noida at the age of 100. Popularly known as the ‘Statue Man’, he designed over 50 large-scale public works projects in a career spanning seven decades, including the world’s tallest statue, the Statue of Unity. Possessed of dynamism and technical precision, his works were defined by hyper-realistic bronze and stone paintings of national symbols, and his death marks the end of an era in Indian monumental sculpture.

Born in an ordinary Vishwakarma family in Gondur village in Dhule district of Maharashtra, Sutar showed early talent. He trained at Sir JJ School of Art, Mumbai and earned a gold medal. His early inspirations were the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, and he began his career restoring temple sculptures before shifting to independent monumental works in the late 1950s. Italian sculptors influenced the curtain style in his work, but as far as expression is concerned, he would say that he learned it from his visits to Ajanta and Ellora.

statues of gandhi

Sutar excelled in lifelike depiction and scale. He mastered the delicate process of reaching the face through the person. The 182-metre-tall, bronze-clad statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, an engineering marvel visible from kilometers away, is a larger and upgraded version of his previous realistic sculpture at the Ahmedabad airport. The carpenter’s art aligned with the nationalist goals of the grand project, favoring an Indian artist with a track record of carving national figures, particularly Mahatma Gandhi, for posterity. He was known to have created around 400 Gandhi statues and busts, including the statue of him sitting in meditation in the Parliament House.

As a teenager, he observed Gandhi in public meetings and his most attractive features were his forehead, moustache, and pursed lips. He once told this critic, “When he laughed, it was hearty and full of laughter. It’s always heart-touching how much people all over the world loved him.” Be it the Gandhi with the thin mustache and Buddha-like aura in the Parliament House or the 72 feet tall Gandhi with two children at the Gandhi Maidan in Patna, each expression of Sutar’s Gandhi has its own feeling and personality. Creating a bronze statue in Berlin, a marble statue in Madrid and a cement statue in Sri Lanka, Sutar helped spread Gandhi’s message in various media in different countries. He said in an interview, “I wanted my work on the Mahatma to portray the strength of his cause, whereas through the ‘Statue of Unity’ I wanted to portray the face of the Iron Man.” The Hindu,

If Gandhi was an emotion for him, he created the Patel statue out of deep respect for the man who united India after independence. He used to say that it was important for him to keep Patel’s traditional shawl, dhoti-clad feet and sandaled feet intact because people always saw him that way.

From Chhatrapati Shivaji to BR Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru, from Govind Ballabh Pant to Ram Manohar Lohia and Dalit Prerna Sthal, Sutar’s art transcended political and ideological divides.

Sutar’s realism and scale brought him popularity, but in avant-garde circles, he was not fully adopted, as they saw his conservative approach as lacking innovation. The carpenter used to say that he was unable to create a set of contemporary sculptures because the requests from governments and embassies were always reverent and of great admiration for the subjects.

Padma Bhushan’s personality was a blend of indomitable ambition and quiet humility. Even into his 90s, the carpenter maintained a rigorous daily routine, working eight hours a day on clay models, demonstrating physical and mental stamina that belied his age.

In the 1990s, he set up his main studio in Noida and later collaborated with his talented son, Anil Ram Sutar, who helped him align his craft with technological advancements. Humble and accessible, the carpenter’s studio reflects this clarity. By fostering a collaborative environment, he mentored young sculptors, many of whom went on to have successful careers under his guidance.

(The author is an experienced art curator and critic)