Untitled

Unlike his oils, Ramkinkar Baij’s watercolours possess an airy quality of translucence. The 1950s marked a shift in Baij’s work, where paintings in the medium reflected bold realism and spontaneity. A sense of movement and energy became a crucial aspect to the landscapes he painted with tremendous grace. Moving away from academic and subsequently the Santiniketan style of painting in which he had trained, Baij preferred to capture the world expressionistically. His signature flourish of quick strokes and energetic lines invokes a sense of momentum in a scene, as visible in this landscape where the springy strokes delineate the waves of the choppy sea. While perspective and depth may vary in his paintings, the image always possesses great evocativeness.