Getting Introduced to Amrita Sher-Gil

Self Portrait (IV) by Amrita Sher-Gil, at the NGMA Delhi

I happened to visit Delhi’s Modern Gallery of Art, New Delhi last Sunday and what an amazing learning experience it has been. While I did take some interest in art during my visits abroad, I had no idea of India’s rich heritage in modern art. For me, as well as most Indians, modern art has always resonated with a handful of media-fed names. MF Hussain and Satish Gujral are deservedly among those.

What my visit did, though, was open my eyes to the beautiful works of Amrita Sher-Gil. Wikipedia calls her one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20th century, and it’s hard not to agree.

I was so mesmerized that throughout my journey back home, and then when I reached home, I just couldn’t stop researching enough on her work!

Tate Modern has a glowing description of her work, including her influences from a year-long trip to the South of India:

South Indian Villagers Going to Market

In 1936–7, Sher-Gil undertook a trip through southern India, and saw the 7th and 8th century cave paintings at Ajanta for the first time. The large fresco-like paintings that followed capture her impressions of the south, but also represent her direct response to Ajanta, which she admired as a supreme example of classical Indian art. Here she brings a new sense of movement and colour to her depiction of Indian life, compared to the more static scenes that she portrayed at Shimla.

Then there’s this eulogy in Mint, on the occasion of Sher-Gil’s 75^th death anniversary that talks about her personality as a woman with sharp opinions in early 20^th Century India as well as her life and influences.

One of my favorites, though, was Vivan Sundaram’s effort to put together Amrita Sher-Gil’s life and artistic journey through her letters and memoirs in the book – Amrita Sher-Gil: A Self–Portrait in Letters and Writings. I haven’t read the book yet, but that’s the first target in my journey to understand the artist better. Why? Because while a lot has been written and told about Van Gogh’s frustrations and psychological struggles, as well as his time in Arles, and, a lot about Shakespeare’s inspirations or da Vinci’s genius, it is rare to get a first-hand glimpse of the life an artist of such repute.

Interestingly, another blog pointed to the same book and highlighted Amrita Sher-Gil’s family lineage. Vivan Sundaram, himself an Indian artist of much repute, is her nephew. Namrata Brar, the former NDTV US Bureau Chief (remember the NDTV journalist who bravely confronted Pakistani establishment on the Uri terrorist attack?), is her grand-niece! Sher-Gil’s mother, Marie Antoinette herself was a pianist and opera singer. Some bloodline!

Some other trivia that I dug up from blogs I managed to read:

• Born in Hungary, 1913
• Belonged to an aristocratic family in India’s then Punjab region – the Majithas
• Moved to Shimla in 1921 and took up painting (at age 8!!!)
• Joined art school in Florence in 1924 (at age 11)
• At 19, won a Gold Medal from the Grand Salon for Sleep, 1932
• Made 172 oil paintings in her lifetime
• Often called India’s Frida Kahlo 
• Wasn’t very well liked by people who knew her (Can’t blame her; she was a true artist)
• Died in Lahore, in 1941

I’ll end this blog here. And hopefully managed to write more about Sher-Gil, as well as other Indian artists that I fall in love with, as my research continues!

I can only paint in India. Europe belongs to Picasso, Matisse, Braque…. India belongs only to me

Amrita Sher-Gil