Leela Mukherjee

Leela Mukerji (1916 – 2009) was an Indian artist; her artwork includes paintings, drawings, sculpture, printmaking and murals. Works by her are in the collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.

Leela Mukherjee
Born
Leela Mansukhani

1916 (1916)[1]
Hyderabad, Sindh[1]
Died2009 (aged 92–93)[1]
Known forSculpture, Murals
SpouseBenode Behari Mukherjee
ChildrenMrinalini Mukherjee

Early life and education

Leela Mukerji, née Mansukhani, was born in Hyderabad, Sindh in 1916.[1] She attended the Theosophical Girls' School in Benares, and completed a science degree at Bombay University.[1] She then studied art at Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan.[1] Her teachers included Ramkinkar Baij and Nandalal Bose.[1] In 1944 she married a fellow student, Benode Behari Mukherjee.[1][2]

Career

Mukerji worked with her husband and the artist Kripal Singh on a mural at Hindi Bhavan, Santiniketan, in 1947.[3]

In 1948 she visited Nepal and learnt wood carving.[1] The critic Pran Nath Mago wrote of her wooden sculpture, "Leela Mukerjee has chiselled in her woodwood sculptures aboriginal human forms with an intense feeling".[4] Later in her working life she started casting in bronze.[5]

Fom 1954 to 1974 she worked at Welham Girls' School as head of the art department. Two murals by her still exist at the school.[1] She was also head of department at Welham Boys' School.[6]

From 1975, Mukerji was part of the Lalit Kala Akademi, where she developed her work through printmaking.[1] She also exhibited with the All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society.[1]

Her influences have been described as "Mexican and folk".[7]

Her exhibitions included:

  • 1951, at Silpi Chakra in Delhi.[8]
  • 1958, a one-woman show of wood-carvings in Delhi.[9]
  • 1959, All-India Sculpture Exhibition.[10]
  • 1997, Major Trends in Indian Art.[10]

Personal life

Leela and Benode Behari Mukherjee have been described as living in an "enviable milieu of cultural practitioners".[11]

They had one child, a daughter, the artist Mrinalini Mukherjee, born 1949.[12]

Legacy

Mukerjee's art had an influence on the work of her daughter, Mrinalini Mukherjee.[13] Mrinalini spoke of her mother's illness and death changing her creative practice.[11] The critic Holland Cotter noted that Mrinalini "tackled bronze casting, the medium that had been favored by her sculptor-mother".[14]

Pritika Chowdhry has described her as one of the "women artists who rose to national and international prominence in early and middle modernism".[15]

Works by Leela Mukherjee are in the collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.[16][17][18][19][20][21]

References
  1. "Leela Mukherjee". Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  2. Gardner, Andrew (11 December 2019). "Mrinalini Mukherjee: Textile to Sculpture". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  3. Michael, Kristine (2018). "Idealism, Revival and Reform – Indian Pottery at the Crux of Craft, Art and Modern Industry". Marg: A Magazine of the Arts. 69 (2). Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  4. Mago, P.N. (2001). Contemporary Art in India: A Perspective. India, the land and the people. National Book Trust, India. ISBN 978-81-237-3420-0. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  5. Gupta, Trisha (23 May 2015). "Secular Deities, Enchanted Plants: Mrinalini Mukherjee at the NGMA". The Wire. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  6. Talukdar, Monica S (2010). "Down the memory lane". Doon School Art Magazine: 13. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  7. Thought. Siddhartha Publications. 1959. ISSN 0040-6449. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  8. Pathway. Marg Publications. 1951. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  9. All-India Fine Arts & Crafts Society (1958). Roopa-Lekhā. All-India Fine Arts and Crafts Society. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  10. "Leela Mukherjee". Vadehra Art Gallery. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  11. D'Mello, Rosalyn (2017). "Mrinalini Mukherjee". Tate Etc. (Autumn 41). Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  12. Relia, A.; Bhatt, J. (2020). The Indian Portrait – 11. The Indian Portrait. Amdavad ni Gufa. p. 1950. ISBN 978-81-942993-0-1. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  13. Bailey, Stephanie (24 July 2020). "Mrinalini Mukherjee: Force(s) of Nature". Ocula Magazine. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  14. Cotter, Holland (11 July 2019). "Sculpture, Both Botanical and Bestial, Awe at the Met Breuer". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  15. Chowdhry, Pritika (10 October 2022). "A charged history of feminist art in India". Harpers Bazaar India. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  16. "Triveni Drawings". The Indian Culture Portal. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  17. "Together". The Indian Culture Portal. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  18. "Dancer I". Google Arts and Culture. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  19. "Mother and Child". Google Arts and Culture. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  20. "Dance II". Google Arts and Culture. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  21. "Figure Lifting Foot". Google Arts and Culture. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
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