Page 134 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

SCULPTURE 131

Nandalal was the head of this institution. Rabindranath’s creativity nurtured the
environment of Kala Bhavana. It became the first art institution to promote
experimentation. The students were introduced to modern western art as well as
traditional methods and concepts. Experiments in new media and methods were
underway and new ideas also developed. Modern artists and intellectuals arrived to
give hands on demonstrations and theorists came for discussions. Traditional artists
were also invited to exhibit the methods and techniques of traditional art.
Ramkinkar joined as teacher of sculpture and discovered an environment where there
was no hard and fast definition of art. He created monumental sculptures in
Santiniketan. He used cement and the pebbles of Birbhum as concrete and worked in
situ in the direct method, mostly out doors.
Sujata (1936), Santal Family (1938) are his figurative outdoor sculptures (pl. 2.12).
Ramkinkar’s contribution to modern Indian sculpture is the environment consciousness
of his outdoor pieces. The character of the sculptures executed in the technique he
improvised is described, ‘The throwing process of the mixture renders a rough organic
texture on the surface that look [sic.] lively, organic and homogenates [sic.] to nature.’ 94
The structure of his work reflects his original ideas and the training of Ananta Pal. He
used bamboo, iron rods, and hay for his structure on which he worked by throwing
concrete. The structural strength of his work is based on the balance of the gravitational
axis. ‘Formally it is significant for the structural strength of the forms that support each
other to stand on natural balance controlled by the axis line in the centre, rendering the
whole architectonically stable yet incorporating dynamism and movement in it.’ The
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scope of his work was wide, spanning the impressionistic, abstract, semi-abstract,
cubistic, expressionistic, symbolist, and surrealistic. He worked in the various trends of
modernism. Lampstand (1938-39) is an excellent example of the vitalist trend (fig.
2.40). His portrait sculptures are remarkable in their technical and stylistic variety.
With Ramkinkar’s work we perceive for the first time, ‘Firstly, sculpture was freed
from romantic subject-matter and was either related to nature or the non-objective.
Secondly, his treatment was very personal and established that the sculptor could
invent his own particular style through which he presented his ideas... From this point
in time we see the subject-matter beginning to lose importance and sculpture owing its
meaning to purely sculptural values.’ The common people are Ramkinkar’s subject,
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the working people around him, and their joy in living vibrant with life force. Perhaps
due to his early training in icon making he could grasp the essence of Indian art, not
the surface appearance but the perception of its depth. Mrinal Ghosh states, ‘He was
from the very beginning expressionistic and leaned towards primitivism. Even for
mythological subjects he rejected so-called Indian-ness or transformed it to imbue his
images with the expression of primitive energy. He had to make an equation of the
expression of energy, the tranquility that is Indian, the integrated beauty of meditation,
the fullness of volumes swelling out from the center.’ [Trans.]
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Ramkinkar had a great contribution as a teacher. His student Sankho Choudhury later
went on to discover new aspects of modernity in Indian sculpture.