https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Meera_MukherjeeMeera Mukherjee - Revision history2026-07-31T04:10:56ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Meera_Mukherjee&diff=517196&oldid=prevXMXHosea83962264 at 04:35, 29 April 20262026-04-29T04:35:11Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian sculptor and writer (1923–1998)}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Meera Mukherjee<br />
| image = MeeraMukherjee-Profile.jpg<br />
| caption = Meera Mukherejee<br />
| birth_date = 1923<br />
| birth_place = [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]], India<br />
| death_date = 1998<br />
| death_place = <br />
| alma_mater = [[Government College of Art and Craft]], Delhi Polytechnic (now [[Delhi Technological University]])<br />
| spouse = <br />
| children = <br />
| parents = Dwijendramohan Mukherjee<br>Binapani Devi<br />
| awards = [[Padma Shri]]<br>Press Award<br>Kolkata Ladies’ Study Group Award<br>[[Abanindranath Tagore|Abanindra]] Prize<br />
| website = <br />
| imagesize = 200x300px<br />
| restingplace = <br />
| restingplacecoordinates = <br />
| othername = <br />
| yearsactive = <br />
| known for = [[Sculpture]]<br />
| domesticpartner = <br />
}}<br />
'''Meera Mukherjee''' (1923–1998) was an Indian sculptor<ref name="Blouinartinfo profile">{{cite web | url=http://www.blouinartinfo.com/artists/meera-mukherjee-129591 | title=Blouinartinfo profile | publisher=Blouinartinfo | date=2015 | access-date=23 October 2015}}</ref> and writer, known for bringing modernity to the ancient Bengali sculpting art.<ref name="Christie's the Art People profile">{{cite web | url=http://artist.christies.com/Meera-Mukherjee-62111-bio.aspx#loadProfileContent | title=Christie's the Art People profile | publisher=Christie's the Art People | date=2015 | access-date=23 October 2015}}</ref> 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 district|Bastar]] sculpting tradition of [[Chhattisgarh]].<ref name="Christie's the Art People profile" /> She received the fourth highest civilian award of the [[Padma Shri]] from the Government of India in 1992 for her contributions to Arts.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 }}</ref><br />
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==Early life and education==<br />
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.<ref name="MEERA MUKHERJEE (1923–1998)">{{cite web | url=http://www.streeshakti.com/bookM.aspx?author=18 | title=MEERA MUKHERJEE (1923–1998) | publisher=Stree Shakti | date=2015 | access-date=23 October 2015}}</ref> The marriage was short-lived and Mukherjee, after the divorce, resumed her art studies by joining the [[Government College of Art & Craft|Government College of Art and Craft]], Kolkata and the Delhi Polytechnic, Delhi (present day [[Delhi Technological University]])<ref name="Meera Mukherjee's sculpture at Nandiya Garden">{{cite web | url=http://www.welcomzestlounge.in/article/index/articledetail/id/56 | title=Meera Mukherjee's sculpture at Nandiya Garden | publisher=Welcome Zest Lounge | date=2015 | access-date=23 October 2015}}</ref> and secured diploma in painting, graphics and sculpture.<ref name="Meera Mukherjee">{{cite web | url=http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/meera_mukherjee.htm | title=Meera Mukherjee | publisher=Contemporary Indian Art | date=2015 | access-date=23 October 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217043036/http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/meera_mukherjee.htm | archive-date=17 February 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Later, she assisted [[Affandi]], an Indonesian artist, during his visit to [[Shantiniketan]] in 1951.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Sunderason|first=Sanjukta|title=&quot;Sculpture of Undulating Lives&quot;: Meera Mukherjee's Arts of Motion&quot;|url=https://www.academia.edu/43355025|journal=Aziatische Kunst: Journal of the Royal Society of Friends of Asian Art (KVVAK), the Netherlands|date=January 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Following here first solo exhibition in 1952, she received an Indo-German Fellowship in 1953 to hone her skills at the [[Academy of Fine Arts, Munich]].<ref name=":0" /> This gave her opportunities to work under [[:de:Toni Stadler junior|Toni Stadler]] and [[:de:Heinrich Kirchner|Heinrich Kirchner]]. It was the former who supported Mukherjee's transition from a painter to a sculptor.<ref name="Shapes of a legacy">{{cite web | url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/shapes-of-a-legacy/article2858666.ece | title=Shapes of a legacy | newspaper=The Hindu | date=4 February 2012 | access-date=23 October 2015}}</ref> She returned to India in 1957 and took up the job as an art teacher at Dowhill School, [[Kurseong]] where she stayed till 1959. From here, she moved to [https://web.archive.org/web/20151015004421/http://www.prattmemorial.in/ Pratt Memorial School], Kolkata and taught there for one year, before resigning in 1960.<ref name="MEERA MUKHERJEE (1923–1998)" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Kalra|first=Vikash|date=2021-09-18|title=Meera Mukherjee (1923-1998)|url=https://progressiveartistsgroup.com/meera-mukherjee-1923-1998/|access-date=2021-09-27|website=Progressive Artists Group|language=en-US}}</ref><br />
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== Career and influences ==<br />
After her return to India, Mukherjee was commissioned by the [[Anthropological Survey of India]] (ASI) to document the craft practices of metal-craftsmen in Central India. From 1961 up until 1964, she worked as a Senior Research Fellowship at the ASI and continued to conduct surveys on metal-craftsmen across India and Nepal. Her journey in India spread across the tribal heartland in the state of [[Madhya Pradesh]], the east and the south. She was on a quest to discover the confluence of art forms with the daily lives of the artisans. During her tenure as a Senior Fellow, she was also closely associated with the promoters of 'living traditions' such as Prabash Sen and [[Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay]].<ref name=":0" /><br />
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The research and documentation carried out by Mukherjee gradually turned her into an 'artist-anthropologist'. She began incorporating the folk-art techniques into her own work. Her inclination towards folk arts of India was initially influenced by Stadler. He had asked Meera to find inspiration for her art not in Europe, but in the local traditions of her own country.<ref name=":0" /><br />
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Mukherjee trained in [[Dhokra]] casting technique under the tribal artisans of [[Bastar district|Bastar]] of [[Chhattisgarh]].<br />
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By the 1970s and 80s, she started exhibiting her works at [[Kolkata]] and [[Delhi]] along with [[Germany]], the [[United Kingdom]] and [[Japan]].<ref name=":0" /><br />
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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''.<ref name="Blouinartinfo profile" /> One of her creations, ''Emperor Asoka'' is on display at the Nandiya Gardens of [[ITC Hotels|ITC Maurya]], New Delhi.<ref name="Meera Mukherjee's sculpture at Nandiya Garden" /> Her works have featured in many international auctions such as that of [[Christie's]]<ref name="Christie's the Art People profile" /> and Invaluable.<ref name="Invaluable profile">{{cite web | url=http://www.invaluable.com/artist/mukherjee-meera-0e3ag8edr9 | title=Invaluable profile | publisher=Invaluable | date=2015 | access-date=23 October 2015}}</ref> Simultaneously, she pursued a career as a writer of children's stories and published a few books, ''Little Flower Shefali and Other Stories'',<ref name="Little Flower Shefali and Other Stories">{{cite book | title=Little Flower Shefali and Other Stories | publisher=Seagull Books | author=Meera Mukherjee | year=1998 | pages=52 | isbn=978-8170461791}}</ref> ''Kalo and the Koel''<ref name="Kalo and the Koel">{{cite book | title=Kalo and the Koel | publisher=Seagull Books | author=Meera Mukherjee | year=1998 | pages=32 | isbn=978-8170461548}}</ref> and ''Catching Fish and Other Stories''<ref name="Catching Fish and Other Stories">{{cite book | title=Little Flower Shefali and Other Stories | publisher=Seagull Books | author=Meera Mukherjee | year=2000 | pages=51 | isbn=978-8170461807}}</ref> 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<ref name="Metal Craftsmen in India">{{cite book | url=http://www.ansi.gov.in/library_pdf/Annotated_catalogue_2004.pdf | title=Metal Craftsmen in India | publisher=Anthropological Survey of India | author=Meera Mukherjee | year=1978 | pages=461 | access-date=23 October 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020113556/http://www.ansi.gov.in/library_pdf/Annotated_catalogue_2004.pdf | archive-date=20 October 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and ''In Search of Viswakarma'' in 1994.<ref name="In Search of Viswakarma">{{cite book | title=In Search of Viswakarma | author=Meera Mukherjee | year=1994 | pages=120}}</ref><br />
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Meera Mukherjee died in 1998, at the age of 75.<ref name="MEERA MUKHERJEE (1923–1998)" /><br />
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==Awards and honours==<br />
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 [[Abanindranath Tagore|Abanindra]] Prize in 1981 from the Government of West Bengal. She held the fellowship from the [[Ministry of Culture (India)|Ministry of Culture]] from 1984 to 1986.<ref name="MEERA MUKHERJEE (1923–1998)" /> The Government of India awarded her the civilian honour of the [[Padma Shri]] in 1992.<ref name="Padma Awards" /><br />
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==Bibliography==<br />
* {{cite book|title=Little Flower Shefali and Other Stories|publisher=Seagull Books|author=Mukherjee|first=Meera|year=1998|pages=52|isbn=978-8170461791}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Kalo and the Koel|publisher=Seagull Books|author=Mukherjee|first=Meera|year=1998|pages=32|isbn=978-8170461548}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Little Flower Shefali and Other Stories|publisher=Seagull Books|author=Mukherjee|first=Meera|year=2000|pages=51|isbn=978-8170461807}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Metal Craftsmen in India|publisher=Anthropological Survey of India|author=Mukherjee|first=Meera|year=1978|pages=461}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Metal Craft in India|publisher=Anthropological Survey of India|author=Mukherjee|first=Meera|year=1979|pages=}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=In Search of Viswakarma|author=Mukherjee|first=Meera|year=1994|pages=120}}<br />
*{{Cite book|last1=Mukherjee|first1=Meera|title=Folk Metal Craft of Eastern India|last2=Ghosh|first2=D. P.|publisher=All India Handicrafts Board, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India|year=1977}}<br />
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== See also ==<br />
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}<br />
* [[Abanindranath Tagore]]<br />
* [[Shantiniketan]]<br />
* [[Dhokra]]<br />
* [[Government College of Art & Craft|Government College of Art and Craft]]<br />
{{div col end}}<br />
{{portal|India|Arts}}<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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== External links ==<br />
* {{cite web | url=http://www.blouinartinfo.com/artists/meera-mukherjee-129591#load | title=Sculpture gallery | publisher=Blouinart Info | work=Web mages | date=2015 | access-date=23 October 2015}}<br />
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{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}}<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukherjee, Meera}}<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts]]<br />
[[Category:1923 births]]<br />
[[Category:1998 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Artists from Kolkata]]<br />
[[Category:Bengali women artists]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women children's writers]]<br />
[[Category:Indian children's writers]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian sculptors]]<br />
[[Category:Women writers from West Bengal]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian novelists]]<br />
[[Category:Women artists from West Bengal]]<br />
[[Category:Novelists from West Bengal]]<br />
[[Category:Writers from Kolkata]]<br />
[[Category:Delhi Technological University alumni]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women sculptors]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women novelists]]</div>XMXHosea83962264