The academy-trained sculptress Ksenija Kantoci completed the medal-making course of Ivo Kerdić, the head modeling course of Frano Kršinić and the nude drawing course of Ljubo Babić. In 1933, she enrolled at the Academy in Zagreb, ultimately graduating in 1937 under Robert Frangeš Mihanović. In the same year, Kantoci paid a short visit to Paris. From 1940, she worked in high schools in Zagreb, Osijek and Varaždin. In 1919, she became a corresponding member of the Yugoslav Academy of Arts and Sciences.

She created a rich oeuvre of concise forms of small dimensions, emphasized monumentality, strong existential inspirations and symbolic dimensions. Developing a freer shaping of the human figure (portrait, female figure, figural composition), with a distinct feeling for the material, especially wood, lead to a discovery of symbol and an independent plasticity value. When creating her sculptures, Kantoci strived to achieve plasticity of volume, closed form and simple and concise shapes, while her portraits are often studies in human psychology. Using synthetic visual arts language she created archetypical forms; plasticity gushes out of her monolith sculpting blocs, with the tension and drama remaining at the very core of the statues.