Ram Vanji Sutar, one of India’s most prolific sculptors, passed away on Thursday (December 18, 2025) at the age of 100 in Noida. Popularly called the ‘Statue Man’, he designed over 50 large-scale public works projects over a career spanning seven decades, including the world’s tallest statue, the Statue of Unity. Laced with dynamism and technical precision, his works were defined by hyper-realistic bronze and stone portraits of national icons, and his death marks the end of an era in Indian monumental sculpture.
Born in Gondur village in Dhule district of Maharashtra, into a modest Vishwakarma family, Sutar showed early promise. He trained at Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai, earning a gold medal. His initial inspiration was 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 style of drapes in his work, but as far as expression is concerned, he would say he learnt it from his trips to Ajanta and Ellora.