Kanaka Murthy

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Murthy in 2019

Kanaka Murthy (2 December 1942 – 14 May 2021) was an

stone. She received several awards in India for her work, including the Jakanachari Award in 2011, and the Rajyotsava Award in 1996. A number of her sculptures were commissioned and installed in public places in India, particularly in temples for worship, as well as public installations in the city of Bengaluru
. She also wrote several books about Indian art and sculpture.

Biography

Murthy was born in a

Tirumakudal Narsipur, Mysore district, in the state of Karnataka, in India.[2][3] Murthy attended college in Bengaluru, where she earned a Bachelor in Sciences, and later studied at Kalamandira, an arts college, where she trained in painting, drawing, and sculpture.[2] She also studied sculpture with D Vadiraja, a well-known local sculptor.[2] She married Narayana Murthy and they had a son, Rumi Harish.[4] On 14 May 2021, she died of COVID-19 at the age of 79, in Bengaluru.[5]

Career and works

Murthy worked primarily in stone, using sandstone, shell stone, and granite. Although trained in the Hoysala style of sculpture, she explored other schools and forms of sculpture.[6] She also sculpted in bronze, fibreglass, and clay.[3] She has also worked with schist, despite the fact that it is easily split, in consonance with sculptural tradition in the state of Karnataka.[7]

Murthy was known for her sculpted stone portraits, primarily

Doraiswamy Iyengar, T Chowdiah, Mallikarjuna Mansur and Bhimsen Joshi.[2] A number of her stone portrait busts were commissioned and are installed in public places in Bengaluru, Karnataka. These include a bust of the poet and writer Kuvempu, located at the west gate of Lalbagh Park, and a fibreglass statue of the Wright brothers at the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum.[5][8] In total, 200 of her sculptures have been installed in public spaces in India.[9]

Murthy spoke in several interviews about the challenges of breaking into the profession of sculpture, which was traditionally male-dominated, as a woman.[5][10] She was one of the few women in Karnataka to create sculptures for religious worship in temples.[3][4] Murthy has also stated that her inspiration to take up sculpting was from visiting temples containing religious sculptures in Mysuru.[11] A number of her sculptures of Hindu idols are installed in places of worship, including an eight foot high idol of the Hindu god Ganesha, commissioned for a religious foundation dedicated to spiritual leader Sathya Sai Baba at Puttaparthi.[6]

She also wrote four books, including an autobiography.[2] One book, titled Shilpa Rekha, is an account of traditional line drawings in Karnataka.[5] She also wrote a biography of her guru Devalakunda Vadiraj.[12]

Honours and awards

Murthy won a number of state awards for her work, including the Karnataka

Rajyotsava Award (1996)[13] and Suvarna Karnataka Award.[5][14] She is the only woman to have received the Janakachari Award.[6]

References

  1. ^ "'People refused to believe in my talent since I am a woman': Sculptor Kanaka Murthy". The News Minute. 20 May 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e Ahuja, Simran (15 May 2021). "Kanaka Murthy was a pioneer: Former UNESCO ambassador Chiranjiv Singh". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Jayaram, Suresh (23 January 2017). "What you see when you see: Kanakamurthy: A sculptor between tradition and modernity". Banaglore Mirror. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  4. ^ a b Harish, Rumi (22 May 2021). "How Kanaka Murthy chiselled a daring life". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Renowned sculptor Kanaka Murthy dies of COVID-19 in Bengaluru". The News Minute. 13 May 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  6. ^ a b c V, Ram Rakshith. "A spirited sculptress". nsoj.in. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  7. Outlook India
    . Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  8. ^ "Indian sculptor Kanaka Murthy applies the finishing touches to a..." Getty Images. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  9. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  10. ^ Khandelwal, Priyasha (29 April 2019). "Celebrated Sculptor Kanaka Murthy Shares How She Made Her Way Into The Male-Dominated Field". Indian Women Blog - Stories of Indian Women. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  11. ^ "'People refused to believe in my talent since I am a woman': Sculptor Kanaka Murthy". The News Minute. 20 May 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  12. ^ Prasad, lPreeja (16 May 2018). "Female sculptor to release biography of her guru". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  13. ^ "Celebrated sculptor and Rajyotsava awardee Kanaka Murthy succumbs to Covid-19". Deccan Herald. Press Trust of India. 13 May 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  14. ^ "Sculptor Kanaka Murthy passes away". Star of Mysore. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kanaka_Murthy&oldid=1204767532"