Mrinalini Mukherjee (1949-2015), the daughter of two eminently creative artists Benode Behari Mukherjee and Leela Mukherjee, was born in Bombay, India and grew up in the two garden-rich centres of education: Santiniketan and Dehradun.
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Once she finished her schooling, her parents thought it best that she pursued her studies in art at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Baroda, which had been set up by artists and educationists like KG Subramanyan and Sankho Chaudhuri, once students of her father.
While studying painting, she discovered the crafting and sculptural potentials of natural fibre and set out in Delhi, as a young professional capable of carrying out large scale relief sculptures in fibre which were astonishing in their unique inventiveness.
Since then, the challenge in her relationship with her material, started a relentless pursuit: after natural fibre, her materials of choice were ceramics and bronze..The oeuvre of Mrinalini Mukherjee has received recognition and acclaim internationally after her death in 2015, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, hosted a major retrospective of her work in 2019. Most recently Mrinalini Mukherjee's fibre works were curated as part of 'The Milk of Dreams' at La Biennale di Venezia, 2022.
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Selected Artworks
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BIOGRAPHY
1949, Mumbai - 2015, New DelhiEducation 1978 1970-72 1965-70 1952-65 British Council Scholarship for Sculpture, West Surrey Collage of Art and Design, UK Post Diploma in Mural Design under Prof. K G Subramanyan, Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting), Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda Studied in Dehradun and spent summers in Santiniketan Solo Exhibitions 2020 2019 2015 2013 2010 2007 2004 2001 1997 1996 1995 1994 1986 1985 1977 1973 1972 Mrinalini Mukherjee: Bagh, Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai Phenomenal Nature: Mrinalini Mukherjee, The Met Breuer, New York Transfigurations: The Sculpture of Mrinalini Mukherjee, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi Palm Scapes, Nature Morte, New Delhi Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai Works by Mrinalini Mukherjee, Gallery Espace, New Delhi Sculpture in Bronze, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi Bronzes and Fiber Works, Nature Morte, New Delhi Night Bloom, Nature Morte, New Delhi Bloom, Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai In the Garden, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai Ceramics Work Center, Hertogenbosch, Netherlands British Council Gallery, New Delhi Mrinalini Mukherjee Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Bretton Hall, West Bretton, Wakefield, UK Festival Hall Galleries, London. Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai Pantheon of Images, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai. Triveni Gallery, New Delhi Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi Selected Group Exhibitions 2023 2022 2018 2017 2016 2015 2013 2012 2008 2006 2001 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1991 1990 1989 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1982 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1975 Mycelial Legacies 2, curated by Deeksha Nath, Presented by Jehangir Nicholson Arts Foundation, CSMVS, Mumbai The Milk of Dreams, 59th Venice Biennale Conversations on Tomorrow, Sadie Coles HQ, London Mycelial Legacies, curated by Deeksha Nath, Presented by Anant Art Gallery, at Bikaner House, New Delhi A beast, a god and a line, Dhaka Art Summit // Para Site, Hong Kong // Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw What’s Essential, Jhavery Contemporary, Mumbai Possibilities for a Non-Alienated Life, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kerala The Sculpture Park at Madhavendra Palace, Nahargarh Fort Jaipur Making & Unmaking, Camden Art Centre, London Unorthodox, Jewish Museum, New York The Body in Indian Art, curated by Naman Ahuja; BOZAR, Brussels Crossings: Time Unfolded (Part II), curated by Roobina Karode; Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi India Moderna, curated by Juan Guardiola; Institut Valencia D’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain Memories: Painted Travelogues, Threshold Art Gallery, New Delhi The Art Mill at Berkeley Square Gallery, London Prakar, Kolkata Bollywood Lounge, Arrival Passengers Terminal, Amsterdam Edge of the Century, Nature Morte, New Delhi Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai Indian Art, Kunsthallen Goteberg, Milles Garden, Stockholm Rediscovering The Roots: Contemporary Indian Art, Muses de la Nacion, Lima, Peru Trends in Indian Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi Contemporary Art: Post Independence, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi Shilpayan, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi Bharatiya Kala ek Sanchayan, Festival of India, Russia Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia The Other Self, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam 100 Years: From the NGMA Collection, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi Words and Images: Artists Against Communalism, National Gallery Art, New Delhi National Gallery Art, New Delhi Timeless Art, The Times of India Exhibition, Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai Artist's Alert, organized by SAHMAT, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi Indian Contemporary Art, Festival of India, Japan: Merugo Museum of Art, Tokyo; Takaoka Muncipal Museum of Art; Machinda City Museum of Graphic Arts Contemporary Women Artists, Festival of India, USSR Sculpted Image, Bombay Arts Festival, Mumbai Origins, Originality and Beyond, Sydney Biennale, Australia Second Biennale of Havana, Cuba First Biennale of Contemporary Indian Art, Roopankar Museum, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal Some Aspects of Indian Art Today, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal Festival of India, Contemporary Indian Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London All India Print Exhibition, Government Museum, Chandigarh 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 Sara Hilden Art Museum, Tampere, Finland Paris Biennale, France Anthology of Paris Biennale, Nice; National Gallery of Modern Art, Lisbon Silver Jubilee Exhibition of Sculpture, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi Six Who Declined to Show in the Triennale, Kumar Gallery, New Delhi National Exhibition, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi Annual Exhibition, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi Participations and Travels 2014 1996 1995 1994 1991 1988 1987 1986 1981 1980 1977-78 1976 Invited for Gwangju Biennale , Korea Travelled in Indonesia. Invited to the second The Asia Pacific Triennal of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia Invited as Artist in Residence at the European Ceramics Work Centre ( EKWC) , Hertogenbosch, Netherland. Workshop with Dutch Artists at Anandgram, New Delhi by the Foundation for Indian Artists, in collaboration with Sanskriti Kala Kendra. Invited as Artist in Residence at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. Gave an illustrated talk and a gallery tour during the exhibition Mrinalini Mukherjee Sculpture (April- July), supported supported by the Charles Wallace (India) Trust. Invited by the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to install exhibition and to discuss possibility of casting one of the works in bronze. Invited by the Henry Moore Sculpture Trust to visit the Dean Clough Studios in Hallifax and other sculptural projects supported by the Henry Moore Trust. Visited the MOMA Oxford and Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Lectured at Leads University to students of M.A Sculpture course. Visited several artists studios, museums and galleries (visit supported by the British Council) Participated in Art and Life in India since Independence Seminar organised by Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla. Participated in Issues in Contemporary Sculpture symposium organized by the British Council and Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. Invited to the Sydney Biennale. Gave slide-talk in Sydney, Brisbane, New Castle, Melbourne and Tasmania. Visited aboriginal artists in Arnhelm. Travelled in UK, Europe and U.S.A Invited to participate in Paris Biennale, travelled in France and UK. Visited several artists working with fibre in U.K Belgium. The Netherlands and France. Visited several museums, galleries and and ethnographic collections in UK and Denmark , Hungary, Austria, Italy and Spain. Artists Camp, Kasauli Public Collections Advisory 1993-94 1988 1986-90 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 National Gallery of Modern Art , New Delhi Punjab Museum, Chandigarh Air India Bombay Several Private collections in India and abroad Member, Advisory Committee , National Gallery of Modern Art Member, Organizing Committee of the First Print Biennale, Roopankar Museum, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal Member, Advisory Board, Roopankar Museum of Art, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal.
