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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Chatterjee & Lal
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DTSTART:20220101T000000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20221119T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20230115T190000
DTSTAMP:20260420T055454
CREATED:20221115T135600Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221115T141255Z
UID:4309-1668879000-1673809200@chatterjeeandlal.com
SUMMARY:Mid-century Madras: Creative Dialogues in Art\, Craft and Industry
DESCRIPTION:The question of what it meant to be progressive\, in thought and form\, was a pressing one in the decades following Independence. This exhibition offers an insight into a moment when diverse players converged in mid-twentieth century Madras (now Chennai) to participate in this discussion\, enriching the aesthetic and cultural scenario. Of central importance was the Department of Industries\, the body managing the School of Arts and Crafts\, Madras and also taking initiatives to encourage industries in the region. Simultaneously\, at the national level\, the need for economic development resulted in the formulation of strategies and governmental bodies that channelised growth in various sectors. \nMid-century Madras: Creative Dialogues in Art\, Craft and Industry presents objects in ceramics\, textiles and metal that emerged both directly and indirectly as a result of steps taken to improve artistic industries and craft production in the Madras region. These exhibits speak of a sensibility shaped by ideas of utility\, popular appeal\, beauty\, marketability\, technical knowledge and economy. \nEmerging from governmental and private initiatives\, the ceramics that are on view here were successful attempts to tap into the local artistic and material resources. These products filled a gap in the market for ceramicware while also providing avenues of employment; especially for art students who did not have many career options then. \nAlso featured in the exhibition are textiles\, as also samples of artworks\, from the artists’ commune of the Cholamandal Artists’ Village that demonstrate the way in which craft and art intertwined to enrich each other. Motivated by the absence of art patronage\, and realising that craft had a ready market\, a group of artists associated with the art college in Madras established Cholamandal Artists’ Village where crafts-based practices were an integral aspect of their routine. \nUltimately\, this exhibition provides a glimpse of how the notion of being progressive was interpreted by different interest groups working in distinct but overlapping areas: by nation-builders who spearheaded initiatives aimed at socio-economic change; by designers who sought to inculcate a new aesthetic sensibility in domestic spaces; and by artists who desired to create a taste for modern art. \n  \n~ Vaishnavi Ramanathan
URL:https://chatterjeeandlal.com/event/mid-century-madras-creative-dialogues-in-art-craft-and-industry/
LOCATION:47-A: Design Gallery\, 47-A\, Kotachi Wadi\, Ambewadi\, Girgaon\, Mumbai 400 004.\, India
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://chatterjeeandlal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Untitled-design-18.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20221119T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20230115T190000
DTSTAMP:20260420T055454
CREATED:20221115T141837Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221115T141837Z
UID:4312-1668879000-1673809200@chatterjeeandlal.com
SUMMARY:Common Ground: Meera Mukherjee and the carpet makers of Muzaffarpur
DESCRIPTION:Meera Mukherjee (1923 – 1998)\, best known as a sculptor of bronzes\, was committed throughout her career to an understanding of art and design that travelled outside the confines of the academy and into the interiors of the country. \nTo further her own practice she had learned metalworking techniques in Bastar\, Chhattisgarh\, and\, indeed\, had been engaged by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to document the work of communities in the production of metalwork. At the same time\, Mukherjee was driven by a powerful political commitment to help in the upliftment of marginalised communities. This was allied to her interest in teaching and her parallel career as a writer of children’s stories. \nMany of these interests coalesced between 1986 and 1991\, at a time when she had founded a small school in a village outside Calcutta (Dhankhet Vidyalaya)\, where her bronze casting took place. Inspired by watercolour drawings produced by children of the school\, Mukherjee worked with women in the village to realise the same imagery in the form of Kantha stitch-craft. This was an unusual and innovative attempt to improve the lives of poor village women. In an act of creative relay\, the resulting stitch paintings formed the spark for her to commission a series of hand-woven carpets in collaboration with out-of-work carpet weavers from Muzaffarpur. Mukherjee was able to achieve a patterning for each of the carpets that allowed them to be seen in the round: the carpet weavers repeated the sprightly compositions of individual Kantha stitch-paintings and\, as they did so\, they changed the orientation of the imagery. \nMukherjee sold these whimsical objects to her patrons in order to raise funds for the carpet makers. At the time of their production there was little understanding of quite how innovative the artist had been in forming entwined networks of sympathetic creative forces. Looking back from the perspective of 2022\, Mukherjee seems to anticipate the models of community design projects as well as design collectives and\, in this way\, marks her as a pioneer in India’s design history.
URL:https://chatterjeeandlal.com/event/common-ground-meera-mukherjee-and-the-carpet-makers-of-muzaffarpur/
LOCATION:47-A: Design Gallery\, 47-A\, Kotachi Wadi\, Ambewadi\, Girgaon\, Mumbai 400 004.\, India
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://chatterjeeandlal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Untitled-design-17.png
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