gandhi-32
gandhi-32

Mahatma Gandhi

Artist

Ram V. Sutar

Material

Bronze on granite base

Dimensions

77 x 33 x 42 in

Date

2004

Location

Hermann Park Centennial Gardens
6100 Hermann Park Drive
Houston, Texas 77030

Located in Hermann Park in a prominent location near the International Sculpture Garden and the Houston Garden Center, Mahatma Gandhi is portrayed in bronze and stands on a polished granite base. Gandhi faces the Martin Luther King, Jr. sculpture. Both Gandhi and King advanced civil rights through nonviolence. The Gandhi sculpture has been part of the City of Houston art collection since 2003, when it was made possible through a group effort. Volunteers from the Indian Culture Center donated the labor and some of the materials, including the marble base. The Indian Government donated the statue, the work of Ram V. Sutar, a prolific Indian artist born in 1925. Sutar is best known as the sculptor of the colossal Indian statesman and independence activist Vallabhbhai Patel, who was the first deputy prime minister and home minister of independent India, and an adherent of Mahatma Gandhi during the nonviolent Indian independence movement. Located in Gujarat, India, the Patel sculpture is clad in bronze and measures a remarkable 597 feet. Sutar’s Gandhi in Houston is also bronze, and significantly closer to life-sized at 6 feet 5 inches, which is a foot taller than Gandhi was.

On the plaque an inscription about Gandhi reads: An apostle of truth, peace, and non-violence who led India to freedom from British rule in 1947, and is hailed as the Father of the Nation.