A painter and one of the first modern Indian sculptors, Ramkinkar Baij is known for his paintings of rural life in Bengal, his sculptures of the Santhal community in Shantiniketan and his portraits. He was the first Indian sculptor to use unconventional materials such as concrete, soil and pebbles as a medium in his sculptures — primarily because of their affordability — which lend his works a coarse, granular appearance. Although a part of the Bengal School, and steeped in nature and his local surroundings, Baij fused Impressionist, Cubist and Expressionist sensibilities with indigenous subjects in his art practice to develop his own idiom during his career. 

Born in 1906 in Bankura, West Bengal, Baij was orphaned at an early age. His engagement with art began c. 1920, when he joined a jatra group and began painting screen and stage props. The Indian Non-cooperation movement, which arose while he was preparing for his matriculation examination at the National School, Bankura, pushed him towards nationalist thought, and some of his early sculptures depict freedom fighters who participated in the movement. At the age of nineteen, in 1925, his work caught the attention of nationalist leader and journalist Ramananda Chatterjee, who enrolled him at Kala Bhavana, Shantiniketan. Baij spent the next three years at the institution, where his ideas continued to develop under the mentorship of artists such as Nandalal Bose and Rabindranath Tagore, and the European sculptors Lisa von Pott and Margaret Milward. Shortly after completing his studies at Kala Bhavana, Baij became a faculty member at the institution. 

At Kala Bhavana, he studied under the sculptor Deviprasad Roy Chowdhury and encountered the works of European avant-garde artists and sculptors. He also developed an interest in the labouring body in sculpture in the works of French sculptors Edouard Lanteri and Antoine Bourdelle and the use of materials such as bronze by Auguste Rodin. Another significant influence in Baij’s treatment of rural subjects was the work of American sculptor Jacob Epstein, who incorporated methods such as rock-drills in his sculptures — a forerunner to Baij’s own experiments with reinforced concrete and rubble in his works. Facilitating a deeper engagement with Tagore’s ideas, Baij’s work also began to reflect the influences of Humanism.