Leela Mukherjee

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Leela Mukherjee
Born
Leela Mansukhani

1916 (1916)[1]
Hyderabad, Sindh[1]
Died2002 (aged 85–86)[1]
Known forSculpture, Murals
SpouseBenode Behari Mukherjee
ChildrenMrinalini Mukherjee

Leela Mukerji (1916 – 2002) 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.

Early life and education[edit]

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[edit]

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]

From 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:

Personal life[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "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. ^ a b "Leela Mukherjee". Vadehra Art Gallery. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  11. ^ a b 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.

External links[edit]

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