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JEHANGIR NICHOLSON ART FOUNDATION

Pilloo Pochkhanawala

Pilloo Pochkhanawala was born in 1923 in Bombay. She was one of India’s first few women sculptors.

Pochkhanawala began her journey in the 1950’s with her highly polished seated women, rendered in wood. She portrayed the almost fatalistic acceptance of the Indian woman. But soon, her dynamism soon lured her far beyond her natural inventiveness. She experimented with a number of media and techniques in the 1960s and 1970s, including direct carving, and cement and metal casting, but gradually abandoned the conventional wood, cement and beaten lead for scrap iron and steel. She learnt the technique of welding, which helped her fuse fragments of discarded iron and steel to create her signature works. Doing this, she bridges the gap between a concept and its concrete expression.

Pochkhanawala was not only important as an artist, but also a mediator and facilitator of the arts in Bombay—she organized the Bombay Arts Festival from the 1960s for many years.

Pochkhanawala passed away in 1986.

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