Leela Mukherjee | |
|---|---|
| Born | Leela Mansukhani Template:Birth date text[1] |
| Died | 2002 (aged 85–86)[1][2] |
| Known for | Sculpture, murals |
| Spouse(s) | Benode Behari Mukherjee |
| Children | Mrinalini Mukherjee |
Leela Mukherjee (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 | edit source]
Leela Mukherjee, 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][3]
Career[edit | edit source]
Mukherjee worked with her husband and the artist Kripal Singh on a mural at Hindi Bhavan, Santiniketan, in 1947.[4]
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".[5] Later in her working life she started casting in bronze.[6]
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.[7]
From 1975, Mukherjee 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".[8]
Her exhibitions included:
- 1951, at Silpi Chakra in Delhi.[9]
- 1958, a one-woman show of wood-carvings in Delhi.[10]
- 1959, All-India Sculpture Exhibition.[11][better source needed]
- 1997, Major Trends in Indian Art.[11][better source needed]
Personal life[edit | edit source]
Leela and Benode Behari Mukherjee have been described as living in an "enviable milieu of cultural practitioners".[12]
They had one child, a daughter, the artist Mrinalini Mukherjee, born 1949.[13]
Legacy[edit | edit source]
Mukerjee's art had an influence on the work of her daughter, Mrinalini Mukherjee.[14] Mrinalini spoke of her mother's illness and death changing her creative practice.[12] The critic Holland Cotter noted that Mrinalini "tackled bronze casting, the medium that had been favored by her sculptor-mother".[15]
Pritika Chowdhry has described her as one of the "women artists who rose to national and international prominence in early and middle modernism".[16]
Works by Leela Mukherjee are in the collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.[17][18][19][20][21][22]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 "Leela Mukherjee". Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation. Archived from the original on 1 May 2023. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Leela Mukherjee - Biography". Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation. 6 June 2023. Archived from the original on 5 May 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2025.
- ↑ Gardner, Andrew (11 December 2019). "Mrinalini Mukherjee: Textile to Sculpture". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Gupta, Trisha (23 May 2015). "Secular Deities, Enchanted Plants: Mrinalini Mukherjee at the NGMA". The Wire. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ Talukdar, Monica S (2010). "Down the memory lane". Doon School Art Magazine: 13. Retrieved 1 May 2023.[permanent dead link]
- ↑ Thought. Siddhartha Publications. 1959. ISSN 0040-6449. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ Pathway. Marg Publications. 1951. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ All-India Fine Arts & Crafts Society (1958). Roopa-Lekhā. All-India Fine Arts and Crafts Society. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Leela Mukherjee". Vadehra Art Gallery. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 D'Mello, Rosalyn (2017). "Mrinalini Mukherjee". Tate Etc. (Autumn 41). Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Bailey, Stephanie (24 July 2020). "Mrinalini Mukherjee: Force(s) of Nature". Ocula Magazine. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ Cotter, Holland (11 July 2019). "Sculpture, Both Botanical and Bestial, Awe at the Met Breuer". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ Chowdhry, Pritika (10 October 2022). "A charged history of feminist art in India". Harpers Bazaar India. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ "Triveni Drawings". The Indian Culture Portal. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ "Together". The Indian Culture Portal. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ "Dancer I". Google Arts and Culture. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ "Mother and Child". Google Arts and Culture. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ "Dance II". Google Arts and Culture. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
- ↑ "Figure Lifting Foot". Google Arts and Culture. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
External links[edit | edit source]
- Leela Mukherjee Archive at Asia Art Archive.
- Biography at the Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation.