DO OR DIE

Born on 25 May 1906 in Bankura in Bengal, Ramkinkar Baij was an iconoclast who defied the artistic norms of Santiniketan. The literateur and editor Ramananda Chatterjee with his keen sense of judgement spotted him and entrusted him to Nandalal Bose in 1925. Within a few years he showed an extraordinary command over technique and form and was soon appointed a teacher in Kala-Bhavana.

One of the pioneers of modern Indian sculpture, Ramkinkar Baij created art spontaneously, driven by intuition and energy and disregarding the artistic standards accepted by the institution. He was a fearless critic of art and quite early in life made daring innovations to storm the citadel of convention-ridden artists.

A brief introduction to modelling by a visiting French sculptor led Baij to engage with clay in a unique manner and evolve a personal, innovative style that was largely untrained. He introduced cement concrete casting as an alternative to expensive plaster. The first artist in Santiniketan to use oil paint and create distinctly modern and abstract works, Baij painted on Santhal wraps with packet colours thinned with linseed oil and drew his figures on silk with a shoe brush as part of his innovations.

It is significant that his first abstract sculpture ‘Lamp stand’, done in 1940, is the earliest example of this century in that medium. His two large compositions in cement on the simple lives of the Santals are great contributions to the heritage of Indian sculpture. The country’s first truly ‘modern’ sculptor,Ramkinkar Baij’s sculptures were often monumental and possessed an inner movement, as seen in the Santhal Family or Mill Call, two of his best-known open-air sculptures in Santiniketan.

Ramkinkar was no less active in the field of painting. His oil paintings have all the vitality with which he invested his sculpture. In fact, in his watercolours he revelled in pure abandon – colours splash with brilliant effect, lines swirl in a cadence.