Amrita Sher-Gil
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Amrita Sher-Gil (January 30, 1913[2], Budapest, Hungary – December 5, 1941, Lahore), was an eminent Indian painter, sometimes known as India's Frida Kahlo[3], and considered an important women painter of 21st century India [4]; she is also the 'most expensive' woman painter of India [5].
She was daughter of Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Majithia, a Sikh aristocrat and also a scholar in Sanskrit and Persian, and Marie Antoinette Gottesmann, a Jewish Opera singer from Hungary. Sher-Gil was the elder of two daughters born to Umrao Singh and Marie Antoinette. Her younger sister was Indira Sundaram (née Sher-Gil), mother of the contemporary artist Vivan Sundaram.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early Life and Education
Amrita Sher-Gil was born on January 30, 1913, in Hungary [6], where she spent most of early childhood. In 1921 her family moved to Summer Hill, Shimla in India, and soon began learning piano and violin, and by age in nine she along with her younger sister Indira were giving concerts and acting in plays at Shimla's Gaiety Theatre at Mall Road, Shimla [7]. Though she was already painting since the age of five she formally started learning painting at age eight [7].
In 1923, Marie came to known an Italian sculpture, who was living at Shimla at the time; later in 1924 when he returned to Italy, Amrita's mother also moved to Italy along with Amrita, and got her enrolled at Santa Anunciata, an Art School at Florence, Italy [8]. Though Amrita didn't stay at this school for long, and returned to Indian in 1924, it was here that she was exposed to works of Italian masters [9].
At sixteen, Sher-Gil sailed to Europe with her mother to train as a painter at Paris, first at the Grande Chaumiere under Pierre Vaillant and later at École des Beaux-Arts [10], she drew inspiration from European painters such as Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin[11], while coming under the influence of her teacher Lucien Simon and the company of artist friends and lovers like Boris Tazlitsky. Her early paintings display a significant influence of the Western modes of painting, especially as being practised in the Bohemian circles of Paris in the early 1930s. In 1933, she made her first important work, 'Young Girls', which led to her election as an Associate of the Grand Salon in Paris, the youngest ever [12] and the only Asian to have received this recognition hence [9].
[edit] Return to India
Sher-Gil returned to India in 1934 and began a rediscovery of the traditions of Indian art which was to continue till her death. She stayed at their family home at Summer Hill, Shimla, for a while, before leaving for travel, in 1936, at the behest of an art collector and critic, Karl Khandalavala, who encouraged her to pursue her passion for discovering her Indian roots [11]; subsequently she was greatly impressed and influenced by the Mughal and Pahari schools of painting and cave paintings at Ajanta caves. Later in 1937, she toured South India [11] and produced the famous South Indian trilogy paintings, Bride's Toilet', 'Brahmacharis' and 'The South Indian Villagers' [13] that reveal her passionate sense of colour and an equally passionate empathy for her Indian subjects, who are often depicted in their poverty and despair, by now the transformation in her work was complete and she had found her 'artistic mission', to express the life of Indian people through her canvas, as she herself admitted [2].
This was distinct from European phase, in the interwar years, when her work showed an engagement with the works of Hungarian painters, especially the Nagybanya school of painting, [14].
Sher-Gil married her Hungarian first cousin, Dr. Victor Egan in 1938, and moved with him to India, to stay at her paternal family's home in Saraya, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, thus began her second phase in painting, which equals in its impact on Indian Modern Art movement, with likes of Rabindranath Tagore and Jamini Roy [15] [3].
In September 1941, the couple moved to Lahore then in undivided India, and a major cultural and artistic centre. She lived and painted at 23 Ganga Ram Mansions, The Mall, Lahore, where her studio was reported to be on the top floor of the townhouse, she inhabited [16]. She was also famous for her many affairs with both women and men.
Amrita Sher-Gil died around midnight [13] on December 5, 1941 at Lahore, leaving behind a large volume of work, and mystery behind the real reason for death has never been ascertained, something expected in view of the overly sensationalised accounts of Amrita's life in the words of her contemporaries. A failed abortion and subsequent peritonitis also have been suggested as the possible causes [17]. She was cremated on December 7, 1941 at Lahore [18].
[edit] Legacy
The Government of India has declared her works as National Art Treasures [3], and most of them are housed in the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi [19], and a postage stamp depicting her painting 'Hill Women' was released in 1978 in India[20], and a road in Lutyens' Delhi, was named after her, Amrita Shergill Marg.
Besides remaining an inspiration to many a contemporary Indian artists, in 1993, she also became the inspiration behind, the famous Urdu play, by Javed Siddiqi, 'Tumhari Amrita', starring Shabana Azmi and Farooq Shaikh [21].
[edit] Further reading
- Amrita Sher-Gill: A Biography by N.Iqbal Singh, Vikas Publishing House Pvt.Ltd ,India, 1984. ISBN 0706924746.
- Amrita Sher Gill - A Painted Life by Geeta Doctor, Rupa 2002, ISBN 817167688X.
- Amrita Sher-Gil: A Life by Yashodhara Dalmia, 2006. (ISBN 0-670-05873-4)
- India’s 50 Most Illustrious Women by Indra Gupta (ISBN 81-88086-19-3)
- Famous Indians of the 20th Century by Vishwamitra Sharma. Pustak Mahal, 2003, ISBN 8122308295.
[edit] References
- ^ The Art Trust. Indian Most Expensive Paintings.
- ^ a b Great Minds, The Tribune, March 12, 2000
- ^ a b c Amrita Sher-Gill at mapsofindia.com
- ^ Women painters at 21stcenturyindianart.com
- ^ Most expensive Indian artists
- ^ The house Amrita Shergil was born in
- ^ a b Amrita Shergill at sikh-heritage
- ^ Amrita Shergil at SikhiWiki
- ^ a b Amrita Shergill Biography at iloveindia.com
- ^ Amrita Sher-Gil profile at indianartcircle.com
- ^ a b c Amrita Sher-Gil Exhibition at tate.org
- ^ Amrita Shergil at tate
- ^ a b Amrita Shergill at indiaprofile.com
- ^ Daily Times, December 15, 2004
- ^ Indian artists
- ^ Amrita Shergil at indianetzone.com
- ^ Truth, Love and a Little Malice, An Autobiography by Khushwant Singh Penguin, 2003. ISBN 0143029576.
- ^ Hamari Amrita, March 2007 Khushwant Singh's Article on Amrita Shergill
- ^ Amrita Sher-Gil at culturalindia.net
- ^ Art on Indian Postage Stamps
- ^ The Hindu, Aug 13, 2006
