One of India’s earliest modernists and a National Treasure artist, Sailoz Mookherjea successfully processed European modernism with elements of traditional Indian painting to create a unique, individual modernist vocabulary.
Born in Calcutta on November 2, 1906, Mookherjea received his diploma in fine arts from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Calcutta, in 1932. He then served as the art director of the Imperial Tobacco Company (now ITC) before going to Paris in 1937.
The Parisian exposure, as well as his tour through Europe in 1937-38, had a decisive influence on Mookherjea’s modernist vocabulary; he was particularly influenced by the works of Henri Matisse. Mookherjea started working in oil in a fluid, expressionist manner, a rare thing because most of his contemporaries in India were either working in watercolour or making realistic paintings in oil, which was outmoded in Europe. But his roots lay in India. He shared in an interview: ‘No doubt, my simplification of form and vibrancy of colour derives from the Ecole de Paris, particularly from Matisse and Modigliani. But my main influence are the folk art of India and the Basholi miniatures.’
Upon his return from Europe, he taught at New Delhi’s Sarada Ukil School of Art, 1945-47, and at Delhi Polytechnic, 1948-60. He found a generous patron in Ram Babu Jain of Dhoomimal Gallery, who looked after him financially in the last days of his life. Mookherjea mentored some well-known artists of subsequent generations, such as Ram Kumar, J. Swaminathan, Paramjit Singh and Arpita Singh. His works are part of several important collections such as the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery, Mumbai. He passed away at the age of 53 on October 5, 1960, in New Delhi.