Ramkinkar Baij Retrospective And A Book

Ramkinker Baij

Ramkinkar Baij, who died in 1980 aged 70, was one of the most important of India’s early Bengali moderns, both as an experimental sculptor who broke away from the formal celebratory styles of British India and as a painter. Widely recognised by the intellectual class of the time, but hardly much accepted by the patrons of art, he recieved most of his living from government sources. The extrovert and widely travelled artist, always had more visibility and international exposure than the more secluded Indians.  Now almost 32 years later, this year NGMA organised his first ever retrospective. The exhibition which travelled to three cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore had over 350 works. 

Ramkinkar's lidfe now evinces a lot of interest and the retrospective organisers came up rightly with some books - high priced coffee table kinds for the discerning readers. But to those more interested in deeper understanding of the man, the best book by far was written by Somendranath Bandhopadhyay in Bengali and later translated into English by Bhashwati Ghosh. The author was a contemporary student of Ramkinkar and had written with great empathy his association that brings forth many cherished memories of the days in Santiniketan, when Ramkinkar was at his prolific and creative best.

This book gives the reader a chance to delve into the mind of this great man and share some special moments of his life. Bhaswati Ghosh had been known for writing on art quite sometime now. She had received the Charles Wallace (India) Trust Fellowship for translation. As part of this, she spent two months at the British Centre for Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, working on the English translation of this book.