Mrinalini Mukherjee's Rope Sculptures at New York's Metropolitan Museum

Mrinalini Mukherjee’s Rope Sculptures on Display at New York’s Met Breuer Museum till September 29, 2019.

The late Mrinalini Mukherjee transformed an everyday material, natural rope, into extraordinary sculptural forms. When Mukherjee turned to sculpture, a Tate Gallery description notes, she rejected conventional materials and techniques associated with studio practice. She began to work with hemp rope. Weaving and knotting, she created complex shapes and folds that often resemble flowers or the body.

‘I work emotionally and intuitively and do not like analysing my feelings during the work process’, Mukherjee said. There are rich references in her work and titles to mythology and folklore, while her exploration of sexuality and the body suggests a strong feminine perspective.

Mukherjee’s works are on display at New York’s Met Breuer museum till September 29, 2019.

https://www.metmuseum.org/press/exhibitions/2019/mrinalini-mukherjee

More from the Tate Museum London:

Mrinalini Mukherjee’s parents were well-known artists and teachers. Growing up with the intellectual and artistic community of Santiniketan in Bengal, she was schooled in debates about local knowledge and modern art. She studied painting in Baroda (Vadodara) with the artist K.G. Subramanyan, who championed Indian craft traditions.

Her early works such as the wall-mounted Ritu Raja 1977 were made from rope woven from hemp in two shades, the natural colours of the material accentuating the sensual forms. The title in Bengali refers to a ‘king of seasons’, usually the fertile spring. The title of Jauba 2000 refers to the hibiscus flower. In this later work, hemp dyed in brilliant colours is manipulated into flower-like forms around freestanding metal armatures, almost human in scale.

She was one of a number of women artists whose work established that textiles and fibres, which were traditionally associated with crafts, could be just as important as the materials conventionally associated with fine art.

https://www.metmuseum.org/press/exhibitions/2019/mrinalini-mukherjee

Born 1949 in Mumbai, India (Died 2015)

Education:

1978 British Council Scholarship for Sculpture, West Surrey Collage of Art and Design, UK
1970-72 Post Diploma in Mural Design under Prof. K G Subramanyan, Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda
1965-70 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting), Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda
1952-65 Studied in Dehradun and spent summers in Santiniketan

REVIEWS of Mrinanlini Mukherjee’s show at the Met Breuer Museum New York:

"One of the most arresting museum experiences of the season. It is an astonishment."—New York Times

"If you are in, near, or just flitting through New York, get to the Met Breuer’s thrilling retrospective of Mrinalini Mukherjee"—Financial Times