Vogue India June 2019

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114 VOGUEINDIAJUNE 2019 http://www.vogue.in

COURTESY

MRINALINI

MUKHERJEE;

MMF;

RANDHIR

SINGH

CRAFTINGART

Mukherjeewas a committedsculptor

whoworkedintenselywithfibrebefore

makingsignificantforays into ceram-

icsandbronzetowardthelatterhalfof

her 40-year career. While fibre art

emergedintheWestinthe1960sand

’70s, Mukherjeewas never part of the

fibre art movement. She worked in-

stead innear isolation,in an Indian

context, and chose to integrate craft

techniqueswitha modernistvisualvo-

cabulary. Imbued with a powerful,

contemporary ethos, her sculptures

bask in undoing the distinction be-

tweenthetraditionalandmodern.Ti-

tled Phenomenal Nature: Mrinalini

Mukherjee, the show brings together

60 of her worksandis chronologically

organised,coveringherentireoeuvre.

It startswithone of the major high-

lights of this exhibit, an early work

calledSquirrel(1972),which has been

specially restored for the exhibition

and has never been previouslyexhibit-

ed; andconcludeswithherlastwork,

the majestic Palmscape IX (2015),

completedjust a week before she died

andnowpartoftheMetcollectionwith

two other works—thefibreAranyani

(1996) and the ceramic Leaf

TotemII(1996).

BEYONDMODERNISM

By using an intuitive, labour-

intensive process of working

withherhands,Mukherjeecre-

ated mysterious, sensual and,

at times, grotesque forms. I

wouldliketheshowto highlight

Mukherjee’sabidinginterestin

natureaswellasherknowledge

of Indian sculpture, folk arts,

moderndesign,and local crafts

and textiles. As her practice

progressed, Mukherjee began

tooccupya contrarianposition

with regard to the prevailing

norms relating to sculpture.

Thoughsheresistedgenderasa

category,her choice of material

and the formalmanoeuvres of

hersculpturesdefied themost-

ly-malepreserve.Moreover, in

relationto her choice of fibre as

a medium,sheplainlydeclared,

“I just liked the look and feel of

ropes of sunn(Indianhemp).”

So, unlike Western artists

whosechoiceoffibrewasmotivatedby

its connection toentropy and decay,

Mukherjee,as NilimaSheikhpointed

outtome,“placedherselfinanopposi-

tional position because of what she

perceivedascriticismofherworksince

it came from a domesticcraft status.

She would insist that she was not

attracted to hemp because of its

impermanence.She was self-conscious

about this critiquebecauseshe felt it

tookawayfromherwork’srecognition

assculpture.”

Whileshereceivedpedagogicaland

ideological direction from legendary

artists like KG Subramanyan,J Swa-

minathan,andherparentsBenodeBe-

hariMukherjeeandLeelaMukherjee,

theartisticchoicesshemadeweredefi-

nitely her own. Her choice to work

withfibrewaspersonal;thedecisionto

drawonclassicaliconographyandin-

terpretit in an abstractedmodernidi-

omwasallherown achievement.To

makeapparentMukherjee’sownartis-

tic agencyand as she herselfhas stat-

ed: “My own questioning of modern-

ism is containedwithin the processof

mywork,whichdoesnotruleoutmod-

ernist options but uses them for my

ownneeds,inmyparticularcontext.I

do this neitherout of ideologicalpref-

erence, norinopposition toWestern

modernistvalues.”n

PhenomenalNature:Mrinalini

Mukherjeeis onviewat theMetBreuer

fromJune4-September29, 2019

BEST IN SHOW

ShanayJhaveri’shighlightsfromtheshowincludeunseenworksthatwerenot

includedinMukherjee’sNGMAexhibitin 2015

1.NagDevta(1979),

Yakshi(1984)andWoman

OnPeacock(1991),the

lattera majorworkthatis

comingfroma smallFrench

governmentmuseumfrom

theReunionIslandin the

IndianOcean.It washerfirst

fullyfree-standingsculpture.

2.Fibreworkslike

BlackFormationII

(1977),BlackDevi

(1980)andVan

Shringar(1992)from

privatecollections,

whichhavenotbeen

seenpubliclysincethey

weremade.

3.Andfinally,fourof

Mukherjee’sNight

Bloomceramics,a

sculpturalmixofthe

femaleandplantform.

Theseworkshavenot

beenseentogether

sincetheywerelast

exhibitedin 2001.

LeafTotemII(1996)