Meera Mukherjee

Meera Mukherjee (1923–1998) was an Indian sculptor[1] and writer, known for bringing modernity to the ancient Bengali sculpting art.[2] She is known to have used innovative bronze casting techniques, improving the Dhokra method employing Lost-wax casting, which she learnt during her training days of the Bastar sculpting tradition of Chhattisgarh.[2] She received the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1992 for her contributions to Arts.[3]

Meera Mukherjee
Born1923
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Died1998
Alma materGovernment College of Art and Craft, Delhi Polytechnic (now Delhi Technological University)
OccupationSculptor
Parent(s)Dwijendramohan Mukherjee
Binapani Devi
AwardsPadma Shri
Press Award
Kolkata Ladies’ Study Group Award
Abanindra Prize

Biography

Meera Mukherjee, born in Kolkata to Dwijendramohan Mukherjee and Binapani Devi in 1923, had her initial training in Arts at the Indian Society of Oriental Art of Abanindranath Tagore where she stayed till her marriage in 1941.[4] The marriage was short-lived and Mukherjee, after the divorce, resumed her art studies by joining the Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata and the Delhi Polytechnic, Delhi (present day Delhi Technological University)[5] and secured diploma in painting, graphics and sculpture.[6] Later, she assisted Effendi, an Indonesian artist, at Shantiniketan till she got a scholarship for studies in Munich[5] in 1953 which gave her opportunities to work under Toni Stadler and Heinrich Kirchner. It was Toni Stadler who supported Mukherjee's transition from a painter to a sculptor.[7] She returned India in 1957 and took up the job as an art teacher at Dowhill School, Kurseong where she stayed till 1959 when she moved to Pratt Memorial School, Kolkata, teaching there for one year.[4]

Mukherjee started freelancing after resigning from her regular job at Pratt Memorial in 1960 and trained in Dhokra casting technique under the tribal artisans of Bastar of Chhattisgarh.[8] Receiving a senior research fellowship in 1962 from the Anthropological Survey of India, she did research on the bell metal craft goods of India and Nepal till 1964.[4] During this time, she also started exhibiting her works at various places in India and abroad.[9] Known to create only a few pieces a year, she created many notable works like Ashoka in Kalinga, Earth Carriers, Smiths Working Under a Tree, Mother and Child, Srishti, The Rumour and portrait of Nirmal Sengupta.[1] One of her creations, Emperor Asoka is on display at the Nandiya Gardens of ITC Maurya, New Delhi.[5] Her works have featured in many international auctions such as that of Christie's[2] and Invaluable.[10] Simultaneously, she pursued a career as a writer of children's stories and published a few books, Little Flower Shefali and Other Stories,[11] Kalo and the Koel[12] and Catching Fish and Other Stories[13] being some of the notable ones. She also published one monograph, Metal Craft in India in 1978, and two books on the traditional metal craft in India namely Metal Craftsmen in India in 1979[14] and In Search of Viswakarma in 1994.[15]

Meera Mukherjee died in 1998, at the age of 75.[4]

Awards and honours

Mukherjee received the Press Award for the Master Craftsman, in 1968, from the President of India. An Emeritus Fellow of the Indian government, she received the Excellence Award from Kolkata Ladies’ Study Group in 1976 and the Abanindra Prize in 1981 from the Government of West Bengal. She held the fellowship from the Ministry of Culture from 1984 to 1986.[4] The Government of India awarded her the civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 1992.[3]

Bibliography
  • Meera Mukherjee (1998). Little Flower Shefali and Other Stories. Seagull Books. p. 52. ISBN 978-8170461791.
  • Meera Mukherjee (1998). Kalo and the Koel. Seagull Books. p. 32. ISBN 978-8170461548.
  • Meera Mukherjee (2000). Little Flower Shefali and Other Stories. Seagull Books. p. 51. ISBN 978-8170461807.
  • Meera Mukherjee (1978). Metal Craftsmen in India. Anthropological Survey of India. p. 461.
  • Meera Mukherjee (1979). Metal Craft in India. Anthropological Survey of India. p. 461.
  • Meera Mukherjee (1994). In Search of Viswakarma. p. 120.

See also

References
  1. "Blouinartinfo profile". Blouinartinfo. 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  2. "Christie's the Art People profile". Christie's the Art People. 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  3. "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 November 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  4. "MEERA MUKHERJEE (1923–1998)". Stree Shakti. 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  5. "Meera Mukherjee's sculpture at Nandiya Garden". Welcome Zest Lounge. 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  6. "Meera Mukherjee". Contemporary Indian Art. 2015. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  7. "Shapes of a legacy". The Hindu. 4 February 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  8. "Meera Mukherjee (1923 – 1998)". Akar Prakar. 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  9. "Meera Mukherjee – A Life's Work". Welcome Zest Lounge. 2 February 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  10. "Invaluable profile". Invaluable. 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  11. Meera Mukherjee (1998). Kalo and the Koel. Seagull Books. p. 32. ISBN 978-8170461548.
  12. Meera Mukherjee (1978). Metal Craftsmen in India (PDF). Anthropological Survey of India. p. 461. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  13. Meera Mukherjee (1994). In Search of Viswakarma. p. 120.
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