Leela Mukherjee: A Guileless Modernist

Leela Mukherjee (1916-2003) was one the first women sculptors of modern India. Born in Karachi, she was educated at Banaras and Santiniketan, where she had the legendary sculptor Ramkinkar Baij as her teacher. Yet, like all women artists of her time, becoming an artist was an arduous project of self-determination. Despite being overshadowed by her husband, Benodebehari Mukherjee, and later by her daughter, Mrinalini Mukherjee, who found greater recognition, she never gave up. Her unwavering spirit and resilience are evident in her work, especially in her wood carvings, which are now finding belated recognition. This is the first study of Leela Mukherjee, and through a clutch of analytical studies and remembrances by scholars and friends, it presents her as a person and an artist of singular determination.

Published in association with the Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation