The paintings of L. Munnuswamy are exceptionally adventurous in their expressive distortions and simplifications of human figures. As a student and later colleague of K. C. S. Panicker, Munnuswamy was gripped by the fascination for the new and was swayed by the impressionistic and expressionistic credos in the 1950s.

When the members of the Cholamandalam fold were then deeply involved in developing a nativist and decorative crafty language, it was Munnuswamy who, from 1959 onwards took a virtual leap in terms of pictorial vocabulary by bypassing nativist considerations as well as any fidelity to realism. It also allowed the beginning of the assertion of autonomy of pictorial elements, which was unseen in the art scene of Madras.