Amrita Sher-Gil
Amrita Sher-Gil | |
---|---|
British India | |
Nationality | |
Education | (1930–1934) |
Known for | Painting |
Spouse |
Viktor Egan (m. 1938) |
Amrita Sher-Gil (30 January 1913 – 5 December 1941) was a Hungarian-Indian painter. She has been called "one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20th century" and a pioneer in modern Indian art. Drawn to painting from an early age, Sher-Gil started formal lessons at the age of eight. She first gained recognition at the age of 19, for her 1932 oil painting Young Girls. Sher-Gil depicted everyday life of the people in her paintings.
Sher-Gil traveled throughout her life to various countries including Turkey, France, and India, deriving heavily from precolonial Indian art styles as well as contemporary culture. Sher-Gil is considered an important painter of 20th-century India, whose legacy stands on a level with that of the pioneers from the
Early life and education
Amrita Sher-Gil was born on 30 January 1913
Her family faced financial problems in Hungary. In 1921, her family moved to
In 1923, Marie came to know an Italian
At sixteen, Sher-Gil sailed to Europe with her mother to train as a painter in Paris, first at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière under Pierre Vaillent and Lucien Simon (where she met Boris Taslitzky) and later at the École des Beaux-Arts (1930–1934).[12][13] She drew inspiration from European painters such as Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin and Amedeo Modigliani,[14] while working under the influence of her teacher Lucien Simon and through the company of artist friends and lovers like Taslitzky. While in Paris, she is said to have painted with a conviction and maturity rarely seen in a 16-year old.[4]
In 1931, Sher-Gil was briefly engaged to Yusuf Ali Khan, but rumours spread that she was also having an affair with her first cousin and later husband Viktor Egan.[15] Her letters reveal same-sex affairs.[16]
1932–1936: Early career, European and Western styles
Sher-Gil's early paintings display a significant influence of the
When she was in Paris, one of her professors said that judging by the richness of her colouring Sher-Gil was not in her element in the west, and that her artistic personality would find its true atmosphere in the east.[21] In 1933, Sher-Gil "began to be haunted by an intense longing to return to India feeling in some strange way that there lay her destiny as a painter". She returned to India at the end of 1934.[22][21] In May 1935, Sher-Gil met the English journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, then working as assistant editor and leader writer for The Calcutta Statesman.[23] Both Muggeridge and Sher-Gil stayed at the family home at Summer Hill, Shimla and a short intense affair took place during which she painted a casual portrait of her new lover, the painting now with the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi. By September 1935 Amrita saw Muggeridge off as he traveled back to England for new employment.[24] She left herself for travel in 1936 at the behest of art collector and critic Karl Khandalavala, who encouraged her to pursue her passion for discovering her Indian roots.[14] In India, she began a quest for the rediscovery of the traditions of Indian art which was to continue till her death. She was greatly impressed and influenced by the Mughal and Pahari schools of painting and the cave paintings at Ajanta.
1937–1941: Later career, influence of Indian art
Later in 1937, she toured
Sher-Gil married her Hungarian first cousin, Dr. Viktor Egan when she was 25.
During her stay at Saraya, Sher-Gil painted the Village Scene, In the Ladies' Enclosure, and Siesta, all of which portray the leisurely rhythms of life in rural India. Siesta and In the Ladies' Enclosure reflect her experimentation with the
Although from a family that was closely tied to the British Raj, Sher-Gil was a Congress sympathiser. She was attracted to the poor, distressed and the deprived and her paintings of Indian villagers and women are a meditative reflection of their condition. She was also attracted by Gandhi's philosophy and lifestyle. Nehru was charmed by her beauty and talent and when he went to Gorakhpur in October 1940, he visited her at Saraya. Her paintings were at one stage even considered for use in the Congress propaganda for village reconstruction.[26] Despite befriending Nehru, she never drew his portrait, supposedly because she thought he was "too good looking".[34] Nehru attended her exhibition held in New Delhi in February 1937.[34] Sher-Gil exchanged letters with Nehru for a time, but those letters were burned by her parents when she was away getting married in Budapest.[34]
In September 1941, Egan and Sher-Gil moved to
Illness and death
In 1941, at age 28, just days before the opening of her first major solo show in Lahore, Sher-Gil became seriously ill and slipped into a coma.[22][36][37] She later died around midnight on 5 December 1941,[38] leaving behind a large volume of work. The reason for her death has never been ascertained. A failed abortion and subsequent peritonitis have been suggested as possible causes for her death.[39] Her mother accused her doctor husband Egan of having murdered her. The day after her death, Britain declared war on Hungary and Egan was interned as an enemy alien. Sher-Gil was cremated on 7 December 1941 in Lahore.[33]
Artistic and cultural legacies
Sher-Gil's art has influenced generations of Indian artists from Sayed Haider Raza to Arpita Singh and her depiction of the plight of women has made her art a beacon for women at large both in India and abroad.[40] The Government of India has declared her works as National Art Treasures,[28][7] and most of them are housed in the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.[41][20] Some of her paintings also hang at the Lahore Museum.[42] A postage stamp depicting her painting Hill Women was released in 1978 by India Post, and the Amrita Shergil Marg is a road in Lutyens' Delhi named after her. Sher-Gil was able to prove to western societies that Indians were able to make fine art. Her work is deemed to be so important to Indian culture that when it is sold in India, the Indian government has stipulated that the art must stay in the country – fewer than ten of her works have been sold globally.[15] In 2006, her painting Village Scene sold for ₹6.9 crores at an auction in New Delhi which was at the time the highest amount ever paid for a painting in India.[32]
The Indian cultural centre in Budapest is named the Amrita Sher-Gil Cultural Centre.[36] Contemporary artists in India have recreated and reinterpreted her works.[43]
Amrita Sher-Gil (1969) is a documentary film about the artist, directed by
Besides remaining an inspiration to many a contemporary Indian artists, in 1993, she also became the inspiration behind the Urdu play Tumhari Amrita.[45][7]
UNESCO announced 2013, the 100th anniversary of Sher-Gil's birth, to be the international year of Amrita Sher-Gil.[46]
Sher-Gil's work is a key theme in the contemporary Indian novel Faking It by Amrita Chowdhury.[47]
Aurora Zogoiby, a character in Salman Rushdie's 1995 novel The Moor's Last Sigh, was inspired by Sher-Gil.[48]
Claire Kohda refers repeatedly to Amrita Sher-Gil and to her painting the Three Girls in her 2022 novel Woman, Eating, which features a British main character of mixed Malaysian and Japanese origin. Struggling with alienation and with living between worlds as the vampire offspring of a vampire mother and human father, the protagonist, Lydia, identifies with the Three Girls and speculates that they were vampires: "I'm pretty sure that all of Sher-Gil's subjects were vampires and that maybe she was one, too..."[49]
Sher-Gil was sometimes known as India's Frida Kahlo because of the "revolutionary" way she blended Western and traditional art forms.[3][28]
On 30 January 2016, Google celebrated her 103rd birthday with a Google Doodle.[50] In 2018, The New York Times published a belated obituary for her.[51] That year, at a Sotheby's auction in Mumbai, her painting The Little Girl in Blue was sold at auction for a record-breaking 18.69 crores. It is a portrait of her cousin Babit, a resident of Shimla and was painted in 1934, when the subject was eight years old.[52]
In 2021, Sher-Gil's painting Portrait of Denyse was put up for auction by Christie's with an estimated value to be between $1.8-2.8 million. The 1932 portrait features Denyse Proutaux, a Parisian art critic, whom Sher-Gil met in 1931.[53] Proutaux was featured in other Sher-Gil paintings, including Young Girls and Denise Proutaux, which were both included in the exhibition "Amrita Shergil: The Passionate Quest" at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.[54]
On 18 September 2023, Sher-Gil's 1937 painting The Story Teller fetched $7.4 million (Rs 61.8 crore) at a recent auction, setting a record for the highest price achieved by an Indian artist. SaffronArt, the auction house, organised the sale on Saturday night. This came just 10 days after modernist Syed Haider Raza's painting, Gestation, fetched ₹ 51.7 crore at Pundole auction house. In a page dedicated to the artwork, SaffronArt said the legendary artist sought to explore the realm of domestic life in The Story Teller.[55]
Gallery
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Self-portrait, 1930
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Self-portrait (untitled), 1931
-
Klára Szepessy, 1932
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Hungarian Gypsy Girl, 1932[a]
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Group of Three Girls, 1935
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Bride's Toilet, 1937
-
Village Scene, 1938
Explanatory notes
- ^ Originally titled Gypsy Girl.
References
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- ^ "Budapest Diary". Outlook. 20 September 2010. Archived from the original on 29 May 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
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- ^ a b c "Revolution personified". Christie'ss. Archived from the original on 7 June 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
- ^ Kang, Kanwarjit Singh (20 September 2009). "The Princess who died unknown". The Sunday Tribune. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
- ^ Singh, Khushwant (27 March 2006). "Hamari Amrita". Outlook. Archived from the original on 6 February 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
- ^ a b c d "Google's Doodle Honours Amrita Sher-Gil. Here Are 5 Things You Should Know about Her". The Better India. 30 January 2016. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
- ^ On Amrita Sher-Gil: Claiming a Radiant Legacy By Nilima Sheikh
- ^ a b Amrita Shergill at sikh-heritage Archived 23 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Sikh-heritage.co.uk (30 January 1913).
- ^ Joshi, Shriniwas (18 January 2020). "A brilliant painter with a brazen lifestyle". The Tribune.
- ^ a b Amrita Shergill Biography at Archived 26 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Iloveindia.com (6 December 1941).
- ^ Archives 'Amrita Shergil' project Archived 7 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine www.hausderkunst.de.
- ^ Amrita Sher-Gil profile at Archived 15 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Indianartcircle.com.
- ^ a b c "Amrita Sher-Gil Exhibition at tate.org". Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
- ^ a b Singh, Rani. "Undiscovered Amrita Sher-Gil Self-Portrait And Rare Indian Emerald Bangles Up For Auction". Forbes. Archived from the original on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
- ^ Sarkar, Sonia. "A life not so gay". Telegraph India. Archived from the original on 5 May 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
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- ^ Works in Focus Archived 21 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Tate Modern, 2007.
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- ^ a b c "National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi". www.ngmaindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
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- ^ a b c Amrita Sher-Gill at Archived 4 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Mapsofindia.com.
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- ^ a b c "Why Amrita Sher-Gil refused to draw Nehru's portrait : Art and Culture". indiatoday.intoday.in. Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
- ^ "Passion And Precedent". Outlook. 21 December 1998. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
- ^ a b "Great success in a short life | The Budapest Times". budapesttimes.hu. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
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- ^ "Amrita Sher-Gil's 'The Story Teller' Fetches Record ₹ 61.8 Crore At Auction".
Further reading
- Ananth, Deepak (2007). Amrita Sher-Gil: An Indian Artist Family of the Twentieth Century. Munich: Schirmer/Mosel. OCLC 166903259.
- Dalmia, Yashodhara (2013) [2006]. Amrita Sher-Gil: A Life. New York: Penguin. OCLC 973928579– via OverDrive.
- Doctor, Geeta (2002). Amrita Sher Gil: A Painted Life. New Delhi: Rupa & Co. OCLC 50728719.
- OCLC 2605226.
- Gupta, Indra (2004) [2003]. India's 50 Most Illustrious Women (2nd ed.). New Delhi: Icon Publications. OCLC 858639936.
- JRF, Dileep (22 November 2019). "अमृता शेरगिल 1913-1941" [Amrita Shergill 1913-1941] (in Hindi). History of Fine Art. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
- NGMA. "Virtual Galleries - Amrita Sher-Gil". New Delhi: National Gallery of Modern Art. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
- Sharma, Mahima (15 March 2022). "Amrita Sher Gil: A Bisexual Artist Who Even Spellbound Nehru". Simplykalaa Homepage.
- OCLC 1129791065.[page needed]
- Nandan, Kanhaiyalal; Shergil, Amrita (1987). Amrita Shergil (in Hindi). Delhi: Parag. OCLC 59068198.
- Rahman, Maseeh (6 October 2014). "In the shadow of death". The Arts. India Today. 39 (40): 68–69.
- OCLC 21297600.
- Śarmā, Vishwamitra (2008). "Amirita Shergil, Maestro of Modern Art (1913–1941)". Famous Indians of the 20th Century. New Delhi: Pustak Mahal. pp. 153–154. OCLC 800734508– via Internet Archive.
- Sen, Geeti (2002). "Chapter II: Woman Resting on a Charpoy". Feminine Fables: Imaging the Indian Woman in Painting, Photography and Cinema. Ahmedabad & Middletown, NJ: Mapin Pub. Grantha Corp. pp. 10, 14–16, 61–100, 136. OCLC 988874350– via Internet Archive.
- Sher-Gil, Amrita (1943). The art of Amrita Sher-Gil (ten coloured plates). Roerich Centre of Art and Culture. Allahabad: Allahabad Block Works. OCLC 699310.
- Sher-Gil, Amrita; Appasamy, Jaya; Dhingra, Baldoon (1965). Sher-Gil. New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi. OCLC 837971308.
- Sher-Gil, Amrita (2010). OCLC 551378380.
- Singh, Narayan Iqbal (1984). Amrita Sher-Gil: A Biography. New Delhi: Vikas. OCLC 12810037.
- OCLC 643542124.
- Sundaram, Vivan; Sher-Gil, Umrao Singh (2001). Re-Take of Amrita : Digital Photomontages Based on Photographs by Umrao Singh Sher-Gil (1870-1954) and Photographs from the Sher-Gil Family Archive. New Delhi: Tulika. OCLC 50004509.
- Wojtilla, Gyula; Sher-Gil, Amrita (1981). Amrita Sher-Gil and Hungary. New Delhi: Allied Publishers. OCLC 793843789.
External links
- Media related to Amrita Sher-Gil at Wikimedia Commons
- Quotations related to Amrita Sher-Gil at Wikiquote