kolkata the ministry of culture has decided to celebrate the sculptures of ramkinkar baij and familiarise the creator with art lovers and students across the country the initiative has begun with an exhibition called chehre which started at the national gallery of modern art ngma on monday where works by and on baij are being exhibited among other works by artists from the bengal school and elsewherea neverseen cement bust of rabindranath tagore that baij had created when he was a teacher at kala bhavana santiniketan has been brought out of the vaults of the ngma for the exhibition this is the only cement bust that is on display at the exhibitionthe bust of tagore by baij is unique it exemplifies his intense portrayal cast in cement the hardness of the material is balanced with a textured portrayal of the bust with his head bent the attention is drawn towards his thoughtful expressions the portrait defines the deep understanding of the art of portraiture by ram kinker in experimental mediums explained adwaita gadanayak the director general of ngmatagores nephew abanindranath a celebrated artist in his own right also made a bust of baij in bronze this too was in the possession of the ngma and has been brought out for the exhibition the bust has been christened the portrait of ramkinkar baij and it is a special focus in this exhibition enveloped in green patina the portrait represents baij in a thoughtful expression his eyes look straight towards the onlooker and feels they are in conversation with the spectatoranother bust of baij by sarbari roy chowdhury in 1965 has been displayed in a manner it looks as if the two busts are in conversation again cast in bronze this work of art has been curated in the exhibition in a theatrical manner and seems to be in conversation with the other baij bustat least 150 rare busts made by baij are in the possession of the ngma these were acquired by the ministry of culture during baijs lifetime but were never exhibited the first exhibition of these will be held in the city post pujas the ngma has set up its own gallery in the city inside the currency building in dalhousie and this exhibition will mark its inaugurationthe other artists from bengal school whose work have been exhibited are tarak garai amitabha bhowmick and soma chakraborty