Quick Facts
Biography
Mrinalini Mukherjee was an Indian painter and sculpture artist. Born to artists Benode Behari and Leela Mukherjee, in Bombay, she was brought up in the hill town of Dehra Dun. She studied painting at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, before doing a post-Diploma in mural design under K. G. Subramanyan. Being a painter and sculptor, she has a unique voice in contemporary Indian art and is best known for her knotted sculptures with hemp ropes. She was known for the use of folk and tribal art techniques to great creative advantage in her works
Early life and education
Mukherjee was born in 1949, in Bomaby, India to artists Benode Behari and Leela Mukherjee. The only child to her parents, she was brought up in the North-Indian hill town of Dehradun, where she attended school, and spent her summer vaccations in Santiniketan. She went to study Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, before doing a post-Diploma in mural design under K. G. Subramanyan, an Indian artist and member of the Fine Arts Faculty at the university. She received a British Council Scholarship in 1971, for sculpture at the West Surrey College of Art and Design.
Career
Mukherjee worked for the West Surrey College of Art and design in Farnham. Her first solo exhibition was held at Sridharani ARt Gallery, in 1972. It featured wrapped woven forms in dyed natural fabric, a series of works that brought her recognition.
In 1994-95, she was invited to the Museum of Modern Art at Oxford to hold an exhibition conducted by David Elliott. The same exhibition further traveled to several cities around the England. Mukherjee has also participated in an international workshop in Netherlands in 1996. Art historian and independent curator Deepak Ananth ascribed Mukherjee’s predilection for modest, earthly materials to her influence from Subramanyan, and in turn from the history of Indian artisanal craft. In an essay entitled “The Knots are Many But the Thread is One”, Ananth wrote, “As if in harmony with the vegetal realm from which her medium is derived, the leading metaphor of Mukherjee’s work comes from the organic life of plants. Improvising upon a motif or image that serves as her starting point the work’s gradual unfolding itself becomes analogous to the stirring into maturation of a sapling.”
Later in her career, Mukherjee had been experimenting with ceramics.
Style
The authors of Indian Contemporary Art Post-Independence dubbed Mukherjee as a "unique voice in contemporary Indian art", and remarked "The sculptures knotted painstakingly with hemp ropes in earthy or rich glowing colours evoke a fecund world of burgeoning life, lush vegetation, iconic figures." Acknowledging the note of sexuality manifested in the "phallic forms", they added "the mysterious folds and orifices, the intricate curves and drapes. There is a sensuous, tactile quality to her work which exercises a compelling hold on the viewer."
Mukherjee studied under K. G. Subramanyan, and derived hevaily from his artistry. Sonal Khullar writing on Subramanyan's influence on her wrote in Worldy Affliations Mukherjee a former student, "[...] use jute, wood, rope, and cowdung to create environments at once magical and mundane. Their inventiveness with visual language and investments in ordinary materials are a legacy of Subramanyan's teaching, writing and art-making."
Influences
In the context of the pedegogy professed by K G Subramanyan, Mukherjee's decision to work in a material traditionally associated with her craft rather than "high art" reflects her teacher's conscious attempts to overcome what they considered to be a staple polarity in Modernism, not least in view of the extreme richness and continuing actuality of traditional artisanal skills in India and the sheer versatility of popular vernacular idioms.
Artist's father Benode Bihari, who, in his teaching at Shantiniketan, his ideologies since 1950's (being an active part of the 'nationalist' revival movement) and his works in 1970's has had great impact on the artist.
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2015
Transfigurations - National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi
2013
Palm Scapes - Nature Morte, New Delhi
Bronze -Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai
2010
Works By Mrinalini Mukherjee - Gallery Espace, New Delhi
2007
Sculpture In Bronze - Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
2004
Bronzes And Fiber Works - Nature Morte, New Delhi
2001
Night Bloom - Nature Morte, New Delhi
Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
1997
In The Garden - Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi
1996
Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
European Ceramics Work Center, Hertogenbosch
1995
British Council Gallery, New Delhi
1994
Mrinalini Mukherjee Sculpture - Museum of Modern Art, Oxford
Pavilion Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Bretton Hall, Wakefield
Royal Festival Hall Galleries, London
1986
Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
1985
Pantheon Of Images - Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1977
Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai.
1973
Triveni Gallery, New Delhi
1972
Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi
Group Exhibitions
2015
India Art Fair, New Delhi
2014
Burning Down The House – Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju
2013
The Body In Indian Art - BOZAR, Brussels
2012
Crossings: Time Unfolded (Part II) - Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi
2008
India Moderna - Institut Valencia D’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain
Mapping Memories: Painted Travelogues - Threshold Art Gallery, New Delhi
2006
The Art Mill at Berkeley Square Gallery, London
Akar Prakar, Kolkata
2001
Bollywood Lounge - Arrival Passengers Terminal, Amsterdam
1999
Edge Of The Century- Nature Morte, New Delhi
1998
Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
Contemporary Indian Art - Kunsthallen Goteberg, Milles Garden, Stockholm
1997
Rediscovering The Roots: Contemporary Indian Art - Muses de la Nacion, Lima, Peru
Major Trends In Indian Art - Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
Indian Contemporary Art: Post Independence, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
1996
Shilpayan - National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Samkaleen Bharatiya Kala Ek Sanchayan - Festival of India, Russia
Asia Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
1995
The Other Self - National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1994
100 Years: From The NGMA Collection - National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
1991
Words And Images: Artists Against Communalism - National Gallery Art, New Delhi
1990
National Gallery Art, New Delhi
1989
Timeless Art - The Times of India Exhibition, Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai
Artist's Alert - Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1988
Indian Contemporary Art, Festival of India, Japan: Merugo Museum of Art, Tokyo
Takaoka Municipal Museum of Art; Machinda City Museum of Graphic Arts
1987
Contemporary Women Artists, Festival of India, USSR
The Sculpted Image - Bombay Arts Festival, Mumbai
1986
Origins, Originality And Beyond - Sydney Biennale, Sydney
Second Biennale of Havana, Havana
First Biennale of Contemporary Indian Art, Roopankar Museum, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal
1985
Some Aspects Of Indian Art Today - Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal
1982
Festival of India, Contemporary Indian Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London
All India Print Exhibition, Government Museum, Chandigarh
1981
India: Myth And Reality - Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK
Fifth Triennale of Contemporary Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
Inaugural Exhibition, Roopankar Museum, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal
1980
Sara Hilden Art Museum, Tampere
Paris Biennale, Paris
Anthology of Paris Biennale, Nice; National Gallery of Modern Art, Lisbon
1979
Silver Jubilee Exhibition of Sculpture, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1978
Six Who Declined To Show In The Triennale - Kumar Gallery, New Delhi
1977
National Exhibition, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
1975
Annual Exhibition, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi
Works in Public Collections
- Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK
- Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK
- Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
- National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
- Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi
- Roopankar Museum of Art, Bharat Bhawan, Bhopal
- Fine Arts Museum, Punjab University, Chandigarh
- India Tourism Development Corporation, New Delhi
- India Institute of Immunology, New Delhi
- Tate Modern, London
- Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh