Benode Behari Mukherjee

Binode Behari Mukherjee ( Bengali: বিনোদ বিহারী মুখোপাধ্যায়, Binod Bihari Mukhopadhyay, Binod Bihari Mukhopadhyay; born February 7, 1904 in Kolkata, † 19 November 1980) was an Indian artist and professor at the Visva Bharati University in Shantiniketan.

Life

Mukherjee was born with severe visual impairment - one eye was blind and the other myopic. Since his childhood he was interested in painting and became a pupil of the painter Nandalal Bose in Shantiniketan. He combined influences of modern art in the West with traditions of Indian painting. In the 1930s, he was a teacher himself at the Arts Faculty of the University in Shantiniketan. In a study trip to Japan in 1937, he learned, among other East Asian calligraphy and later used techniques in his work. Mukherjee created frescoes and murals on buildings of the university, which are among his most important works. Known students Mukherjee were the painter KG Subramanyan, the sculptor Somnath Hore and the filmmaker Satyajit Ray. In 1949 he became director of the National Museum of Nepal, Kathmandu. In the early 1950s he moved to Mussoorie and opened his own school of painting, which had to close due to financial troubles after a short time. By the end of his life he remained in Shantiniketan. In 1957, he became blind completely after an eye operation, but continued to paint.

In 1972, his former student Ray filmed the documentary The Inner Eye on Mukherjee. 1974 Mukherjee was awarded the Padma Vibhushan. 46 of his works are owned by the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi.