Meera Mukherjee is a towering figure in our art world. A brave, extremely hard-working, sometimes difficult artist, she chose to labour and study at the very heart of world art and Indian tribal artistry. Mukherjee saw art as a collective practice and shared proceeds with her colleagues – tribal craftspeople.
This book is a monumental work, written thoughtfully and knowledgeably, compiled over years. It is full of memories, photos, sketches, and documents her unusual, often solitary journeys across India – to towns, temples, and tribal forests – working with craftsmen and learning their metal casting techniques.
Mukherjee led an austere life full of hard physical labour, heat and smoke, and lonely travels – sometimes via bullock cart or on foot – to find artists and learn about metalworking techniques, assorted clays, metals, and scraps. This book offers detailed knowledge about her phenomenal artwork. Any art library or school anywhere should have a copy.
The language and reasoning in this book are exemplary: a work of long, intense, and loving labour over many years. Guha-Thakurta and her colleagues should be congratulated. It’s a book that belongs to every art lover – or even to those who simply enjoy language and ideas. A work well done, even apart from the art and the artist covered.
Mukherjee’s work is awe-inspiring. Her monumental Ashok, Bharat’s beloved Shudra king whose decision changed so much after Kalinga (at Delhi’s ITC Maurya), and later her Buddha (at Badam Tea Estate) – the latter completed carefully by her tribal colleagues after she passed away – are inspiring anecdotes of artistic solidarity and care. The draped pleats on Akash (at the Birla Art Museum) are a wonder. Then there is her sculpture of the ecstatic Baul singers, who bring nothing less than God to us.
Meera, although from an affluent, well-educated Bengali family, stayed at home as a young child, away from school, and then entered – often by chance – a trajectory of art schools and artisans: Bengali sculptors who went door to door during festivals; sculptors who quoted the Shilpasutras; and others who knew few words but produced ‘art.’ What, then, is art? Possibly something that hits you skilfully when you experience it.
What also comes through is this: in a country devastated by colonial rule, theft, and brutality – after the deliberately created Holocaust and famine in Bengal – somehow, both private individuals and government officers still managed to found and fund art schools, preserve artists, tribal methods, and document what remained. That we still have any tribal arts at all is thanks to the valiant efforts of their caretakers – like Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya and Nirmal Kumar Bose.
Mukherjee saw art as a collective practice and shared proceeds with her colleagues – tribal craftspeople
Supriya Banerjee’s wellwritten foreword is informative and evocative. She speaks of delving into “the nuances of the creative process” and of her joy with the sculpture Lady with Shaluk Flowers, where one can feel the window billowing, see the tucked sari, and sense the strong arms. Guha-Thakurta’s language is art too – enthralling facts and anecdotes as she tells this story. One wants to quote so much!
Mukherjee’s direct experience and knowledge of metal casting techniques, particularly from the Bastar region, allowed her to create complex sculptures with multiple sections, wax patterns, and enlarged limbs. Schooled at home not just in reading and writing but also in drawing and singing, Meera was expected to make deities of clay. She watched the potter next door work endlessly, and observed the sculptors who came home for festivals. Even the family’s security guard, who sketched his homeland of mountains and pines, left an impression on her.
Her childhood was one of luxury, style, and social prominence. Her lawyer father had counselled Sri Aurobindo after the Alipore bomb case. It was a family that led her to the Indian School of Oriental Art and other institutions, to teachers – and soon, to a German scholarship.
The Indian government later asked her to travel and document tribal art across India. This experience deepened her knowledge and practice, leading to her books and her art.
One recalls how hard it was for Indian students overseas – often dismissed’, and plagued by self-doubt – struggling for scholarships. Mukherjee herself had to persist through torment before finally being allowed to sculpt and use the kiln. Munich’s Toni Stadler initially dismissed her, but later took her work so seriously he offered to extend her scholarship.
Meera Mukherjee was a sculptor, singer, and writer. She learned and improved Dhokra metal casting techniques, especially the lost-wax casting method. She published one monograph (Metal Craft) and two books – Metal Craftsmen in India and In Search of Vishwakarma. She received the Padma Shri for her amazing sculpture and enormous contribution to Indian art.