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{{Short description|Indian sculptor (1923–1986)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox artist
| birth_date = 1 April 1923
| death_date = {{death date and age|1986|06|07|1923|04|01|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Bombay]], [[British India]]
| known_for = [[Sculpture]]
| notable_works = Spark
| style = [[Modernism]], [[Minimalism]]
| children = 1
| spouse = Rattan Pochkhanawala
| birth_name = Pilloo Adenwalla
| image = Pilloo Pochkhanawala.jpg
}}

'''Pilloo Pochkhanawala''' (1 April 1923 – 7 June 1986) was among the first few women sculptors in India.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Pilloo Pochkhanawala |url=https://jnaf.org/artist/pilloo-pochkhanawala/ |access-date=2021-03-22 |website=[[Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation|JNAF]]}}</ref> Through her dynamic works, which were often inspired by nature or human figures,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=14 Parsi artists dialogue in Delhi – in pictures – ArtRadarJournal.com |url=https://artradarjournal.com/2016/05/14/14-parsi-artists-dialogue-in-delhi-in-pictures/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420175959/https://artradarjournal.com/2016/05/14/14-parsi-artists-dialogue-in-delhi-in-pictures/ |archive-date=20 April 2020 |access-date=2021-03-22 |language=en-US}}</ref> Pochkhanawala established herself as a pioneer of modern sculpture among her contemporaries.<ref name=":5" /> As a self-taught artist, she employed a variety of media in her artworks including metal, stone and wood among others.<ref>{{Cite magazine|author=Yamini Mehta |date=2 June 2017 |title=Eternal frames|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/supplement/story/20170612-indian-artists-frames-986520-2017-06-02|access-date=2021-03-22|magazine=India Today|language=en}}</ref> Her oeuvre includes intricate drawings, theatrical sets, although she is well known for her sculptures.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |title=Pilloo Pochkhanawala (1923-1986) - Lot Essay |url=https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5761111 |access-date=2022-03-30 |website=www.christies.com |language=en}}</ref>

In addition to being an artist, Pochkhanawala was also a facilitator and mediator of the arts in [[Mumbai|Bombay]]. From the 1960s, she organized the Bombay Art Festival for many years.<ref name=":0" /> Along with her fellow artists, she also played a major role in transforming the Sir [[Cowasji Jehangir Hall]] into the [[National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai]], which is now one of the country's leading museums housing contemporary art.<ref name=":1" />

== Early life and education ==
Born on 1 April 1923, Pilloo was the daughter of Framroze R. Adenwalla and Jerbai.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/IndianWhosWho198081/page/n127/mode/2up |title=Indian Who's Who 1980-81 |publisher=INFA Publications |location=New Delhi |pages=85 |language=English}}</ref> They were a Parsi family who followed the ancient religion of [[Zoroastrianism]]. She was brought up in the household of her paternal grandparents in a traditional joint family consisting of three children and eleven grandchildren. Members of her family were the owners of Cowasjee Dinshaw and Brothers. With the head office of their firm in Bombay, their business also extended to Arabia, Africa and [[Aden]]. Pochkhanawala visited these places during her childhood, out of which [[Zanzibar]] impressed her the most, especially because of its African Voodoo cult rites.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Pochkhanawala|first1=Pilloo R.|last2=Clerk|first2=S. I.|date=1979|title=On My Work as a Sculptor|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1574206|journal=Leonardo|volume=12|issue=3|pages=192–196|doi=10.2307/1574206|jstor=1574206|s2cid=147265357|issn=0024-094X|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Instead of following the rigid customs of the family, Pochkhanawala was exposed to diverse perspectives in the company of her peers, both in secondary school and college. The struggle for Indian independence was at its peak during her youth. She became a part of cultural and political changes that were happening with the rise of [[Quit India Movement]] whilst [[World War II]]. In 1945, she received her bachelor's degree in commerce from [[Bombay University]]<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Pilloo Pochkanawala |url=https://www.saffronart.com/artists/pilloo--pochkhanawala |access-date=2022-03-30 |website=Saffronart}}</ref> and went on to work in an advertising firm.<ref name=":2" />

== Career ==
Working in the advertising industry suppressed Pochkhanawala's urge to draw at her own will. During her time in college, instead of statistics, her books were filled with sketches. It was only after her experience at the advertising agency, she was convinced that visual arts was her real calling.<ref name=":2" />

=== Foray into sculpture ===
In 1951, Pochkhanawala made her first visit to Europe. She was on an assignment to create posters and advertisement displays for the national airline, [[Air India]]. This tour gave her an opportunity to visit major museums in the region, where she was amazed by the major works of modern sculptors. <blockquote>Evidently, it was my sudden grasp of the third dimension that left me mortified by the sculptures... I was mortified by the sculptures because I was seized by the fear of the challenge of tackling something so difficult. I suppose the mind was sorting out the message that was beginning to take shape. I knew that my keen interest in drawing will not by itself lead me on to a discovery of sculptural line, form, volume, void and the like. What made everything so challenging and confusing was my intense and instant admiration for the new sculpture of the time.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Vasudev |first=S. V. |title=Pilloo Pochkhanawala |publisher=[[Lalit Kala Akademi]] |year=1981 |editor-last=Krishnan |editor-first=S. A. |location=New Delhi}}</ref></blockquote>This rekindled and further sparked her desire to pursue visuals arts and motivated her to turn into a sculptor. She decided to devote herself entirely to sculpture after returning to Bombay.<ref name=":2" /> Pochkhanawala was mentored by N. G. Pansare, who taught her the techniques of sculpting and encouraged her to develop her own style by experimenting with materials.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Pilloo Pochkhanawala: Sculpting a Legacy (Catalogue Note) |url=https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/modern-contemporary-south-asian-art-2/pilloo-pochkhanawala-untitled |archive-url= |website=Sotheby's}}</ref> Moreover, a visit to England in 1970 and meetings with renowned sculptors such as [[Henry Moore]], [[Kenneth Armitage]], [[Barbara Hepworth]] and [[Eduardo Paolozzi]] provided her with an impressionable insight into the meaning of modern sculpture.<ref name=":8" />

=== Inspiration from Indian art ===
Pochkhanawala's visit to temple sites around the country piqued her interest in the art and history of [[Sculpture in the Indian subcontinent|Indian sculpture]]. She admired the fluidity and liveliness of these sculptures, which had a profound impact on her creations.<ref name=":10" />

Post independence, [[Ramkinkar Baij]] (at [[Santiniketan]]) and Shanko Chowdhury (at [[Vadodara|Baroda]]) took over the responsibility to propagated the new approach to making sculptures. Pochkhanawala, along with Adi Davierwala in Bombay, worked on sculptures that showcased their beliefs and expressed their experience of living in changing India of the 20th century.<ref name=":2" /> Both of them explored the industrial developments in their surroundings and evolved new methods of fabrication in their works, like welding. Their choice of material became an important part of the subjects they depicted and the sculptural forms developed by them belonged to a wider global trend.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jayaram |first=Suresh |date=September 2000 |title=Abstraction: Nature and the Numinous |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.calcutta.06892/page/n51/mode/2up?q=Pilloo+Pochkhanawala |journal=[[Marg (magazine)|Marg]] |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=51}}</ref>

=== Style ===
[[File:Untitled - Pilloo Pochkhanawala.jpg|alt=sculpture by Pochkhanawala|thumb|''Detail of Coral Reef'' (1974), an abstract sculpture in aluminium by Pochkhanawala]]
Largely experimental in her approach, Pochkhanawala's oeuvre includes a range of materials and approaches from wood, cement, metal, mesh and transparent sheets, eventually turning to "found" and scrap metal, welding and casting them to make her signature forms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Modern Movement in Indian Sculpture |url=https://criticalcollective.in/CC_ArchiveInner2.aspx?Aid=545&Eid=848 |access-date=2022-03-30 |website=criticalcollective.in}}</ref> Her early works displayed a marked influence of Henry Moore, which mainly featured figures of seated women in wood.<ref name=":5" /> In the 1970s, her sculptures represented rockscapes on sea beaches. The industrial steel scrap was assembled with natural forms of stone which juxtaposed solid forms with fluid shapes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mago |first=Pran Nath |url=https://archive.org/details/contemporaryarti0000mago/page/124/mode/2up?q=Pilloo+Pochkhanawala |title=Contemporary Art in India - A perspective |publisher=[[National Book Trust]] |year=2000 |isbn=81-237-3420-4 |location=New Delhi |pages=124}}</ref>

== Work ==

=== Public sculptures ===
Pochkhanawala is best remembered for her public sculptures, the most famous of which was called ''Spark'' and stood over two storeys tall at the old Haji Ali Circle in Mumbai. Originally commissioned by [[Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport|Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport]] (BEST), it was made in her distinct style by welding scrap metal together. It is assumed to have gotten its name from the BEST's connection to electricity and the sculpture's contrast of heavy material and light, bird-like features. The location was important to her as she lived in the area. However, the sculpture had a troubled history, being moved to a smaller circle during her lifetime. It eventually disappeared in a road expansion project in early 1990s. In 2002, a scale model, at one-third the height of the original, was installed through a citizen's initiative, on a traffic island outside the [[National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai]]. In late 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, the replica was lost in a beautification drive.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Singh |first=Laxman |date=23 Jan 2021 |title=Mystery of the missing 'Spark' as Thackeray gets statue in Mumbai |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2479897993/96B1C1F759A74136PQ |access-date=2023-02-06 |website=[[ProQuest]] |language=en}}</ref> Another public sculpture of Pochkhanawala is ''Stone Age To Space'', installed at the [[Nehru Centre]]. It is made of rough sandstone and cast aluminium.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-01-21 |title=When your road gets the art attack |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/when-your-road-gets-the-art-attack/story-gnDbOvzlDBjuclqNliD10H.html |access-date=2022-03-30 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref>

=== Other works ===
Pochkhanawala had created [[Scenic design|stage design]] for five plays, which included [[Girish Karnad]]'s [[Tughlaq (play)|''Tughlaq'']] (1970) and ''The Book of Job'' (1976).<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |date=September 1987 |title=Pilloo Pochkhanawala |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.calcutta.06884/page/43/mode/2up?q=Pilloo+Pochkhanawala |journal=[[Marg (magazine)|Marg]] |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=43–48}}</ref> Along with [[N. S. Bendre]], Kiran Gujral, [[M. F. Husain]], [[Paritosh Sen]] and [[Krishen Khanna]], Pochkhanawala was among the six Indian artists who designed new laminates for [[Formica (plastic)|Formica]] India.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=February 1975 |title=Six great minds help make on great idea |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.calcutta.07658/page/n107/mode/2up?q=Pilloo+Pochkhanawala |journal=Seminar |issue=186 |pages=8}}</ref> She wrote a piece about The Rodin Exhibition for the [[National Centre for the Performing Arts (India)|NCPA]] Quarterly Journal which took place from 19 March to 11 April 1983 at the [[Tata Theatre]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pochkhanawala |first=Pilloo R. |date=June 1983 |title=The Rodin Exhibition |url=https://archive.org/details/MusicRes-Periodicals/NCPA/NCPA-12-23-1983/page/n6/mode/1up |journal=NCPA Quarterly Journal |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=9–20}}</ref> In 1984, she was appointed as a member to the Advisory Panel of the [[Central Board of Film Certification]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=24 March 1984 |title=Ministry of Information and Broadcasting |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gazette.csl_weekly.1984-03-24.O-0840-1984-0012-36738/page/n29/mode/2up?q=Pilloo+Pochkhanawala |journal=[[The Gazette of India]] |issue=12 |pages=812}}</ref>

=== Exhibitions ===
Pochkhanawala had solo exhibitions from 1955 to 1978 in Bombay, and in Delhi in 1965, 1968 and 1982. Her piece titled ''Frenzy'' was exhibited in the Tenth National Exhibition of Art at the [[Lalit Kala Akademi]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=April 1964 |title=The Tenth National Exhibition of Art |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.calcutta.09909/page/272/mode/2up?q=Pilloo+Pochkhanawala |journal=[[Modern Review (Calcutta)|The Modern Review]] |volume=115 |issue=4 |pages=271–272}}</ref> The international shows included exhibitions at Minnesota, USA (1980); Middleheim, Belgium (1974); Belgrade; Bangkok; Tokyo (1967) and in London (1963).<ref name=":4" /> Her sculptures were showcased at the [[São Paulo Art Biennial]] in 1969 and 1971.<ref>{{Cite web |title=10ª Bienal de São Paulo (1969) - Catálogo by Bienal São Paulo |url=https://issuu.com/bienal/docs/nameacb494/126 |access-date=2023-02-06 |website=issuu.com |date=August 2008 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=11ª Bienal de São Paulo (1971) - Catálogo by Bienal São Paulo |url=https://issuu.com/bienal/docs/name9839c4/112 |access-date=2023-02-06 |website=issuu.com |date=October 2008 |language=en}}</ref>

During one of the modern art exhibitions in Bombay, her sculptures were at display in the [[Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya|Prince of Wales Museum]]. In his book ''The Heart of India'', Duncan Forbes has written about the moment when Pochkhanawala was talking about her work:<blockquote>I go to a factory to get all these bits of metal. They call it scrap. Some people don't understand these sculptures, but you know, I have a class of deaf and dumb children I teach, and I brought them round without saying anything to them, and do you know, one of the little girls was standing in front of this one, the Kathakali, and she actually began to do a kind of dance. Isn't that amazing?<ref>{{Cite book |last=Forbes |first=Duncan |url=https://archive.org/details/heartofindia00forbrich/page/n5/mode/2up |title=The heart of India. |date=1969 |publisher=A.S. Barnes |isbn=0-498-07360-2 |edition=[1st American ed.] |location=South Brunswick [N.J.] |pages=73–75 |oclc=6230}}</ref></blockquote>Forbes took a second look of the sculpture and realized that the crude shapes of the sculpture indeed had some evocative power. He further wrote that, possibly, it was the crude nature of the artwork that allowed the imagination to be free and experience it fully.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

=== Awards and recognition ===
Pochkhanawala received several awards in her lifetime which included a silver medal from the All India Sculptors' Association and another silver medal from [[Bombay Art Society]], both in 1954. This was followed by a couple of prizes at the Maharashtra State Art Exhibition in 1955 and 1961; 1st Prize at the Mumbai State Art Exhibition in 1959 and an award by Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi in 1979.<ref name=":8" />

== Personal life ==
Pilloo had married Rattan Pochkhanawala and had one child, Meher.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite book |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3A%E0%A4%B6%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B0_%E0%A4%9A%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8B%E0%A4%B6_%E0%A4%96%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A1_%E0%A5%AC_-_%E0%A4%A6%E0%A5%83%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%BE.pdf&page=404 |title=शिल्पकार चरित्रकोश खंड ६ - दृश्यकला |publisher=साप्ताहिक विवेक, हिंदुस्थान प्रकाशन संस्था |year=2013 |location=मुंबई |pages=339–340 |language=Marathi}}</ref> Her husband belonged to the family of [[Sorabji Pochkhanawala|Sir Sorabji Pochkhanawala]], one of the founders of the [[Central Bank of India]].<ref name=":3" />

== Death and legacy ==
Pochkhanawala died on 7 June 1986 due to cancer.<ref name=":7" /> In the recent years, she has seen a rise in popularity, with her works appearing in art shows in Mumbai, namely ''No Parsi is an Island''<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jhaveri |first=Shanay |date=2014-03-20 |title=A Larger World |language=en |work=Frieze |issue=162 |url=https://www.frieze.com/article/larger-world |access-date=2022-03-30 |issn=0962-0672}}</ref> and ''The 10 Year Hustle.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=The 10 Year Hustle: Celebrating a decade of our gallery space |url=https://chatterjeeandlal.com/shows/the-10-year-hustle-celebrating-a-decade-of-our-gallery-space/ |access-date=2022-03-30 |website=Chatterjee & Lal}}</ref> However she remains largely forgotten with her public sculptures lost or unknown. She was one of the earliest proponents of a modernist wave in Indian sculpture, developing a style that moved away from merely making copies of popular figures.<ref name=":3" /> Pochkhanawala's ''Untitled'' wooden sculpture was sold for {{INRConvert|77.9|l|lk=|year=2020|to=GBP}} at the [[Sotheby's]] auction of Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art in 2020. This was the highest recorded price for her work, with {{INRConvert|57|l}} being the previous best value.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Das |first=Soumitra |date=11 October 2020 |title=A September to remember for Indian art at auctions |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/a-september-to-remember-for-indian-art-at-auctions/cid/1794420 |access-date=2023-02-07 |website=www.telegraphindia.com}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Pilloo Pochkhanawala}}

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcXuIEWPpG4 Dr. Pheroza Godrej's interaction with Pilloo Pochkhanawala] on [[YouTube]]
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pochkhanawala, Pilloo}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian sculptors]]
[[Category:Parsi people]]
[[Category:Artists from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Women artists from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Public art in Mumbai]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women sculptors]]

Pilloo Pochkhanawala - Revision history

MalissaHardaway: added article!