Leaf Totem II
While Mukherjee is primarily known for her fiber sculptures, she started working with ceramics in the mid-1990s and produced a group of large scale ceramic works after a residency at the European Ceramic Work Centre in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, from which Leaf Totem II hails. The ceramics affirm nature as Mukherjee’s prime source of inspiration. Leaf Totem II is an unglazed black work, in which a central shaft is covered in a profusion of petal florets, subtly cloaking an upright phallic-like form. The central base emphasizes itself and resembles a lingam—a cylinder with a rounded top that is a common abstract symbol of Shiva. An unabashedly erotic work, it is consistent with Mukherjee’s other suggestive forms in which an inventive iconography communicates irrepressible growth.
Artwork Details
- Title: Leaf Totem II
- Artist: Mrinalini Mukherjee (Indian, Mumbai 1949–2015 New Delhi)
- Date: 1996
- Medium: Ceramic
- Dimensions: 16 1/8 × 16 1/8 × 48 7/16 in. (41 × 41 × 123 cm)
- Classification: Sculpture
- Credit Line: Gift of the Estate of Mrinalini Mukherjee, in celebration of the Museum's 150th Anniversary, 2020
- Object Number: 2020.211.1
- Rights and Reproduction: Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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