Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Self Portrait (5), c. 1932
Oil on Canvas
43cm x 54.5cm
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Among the series of self-portraits that Amrita Sher-Gil had done during her student days in Paris in the early '30s of the Twentieth century, this one is the fifth. She has often portrayed herself in the act of painting and this work is one such.
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 getting formal lessons in the art, at the age of eight. She first gained recognition at the age of 19, for her oil painting titled Young Girls (1932). (See below)
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Young Girls, c. 1932
Oil on canvas
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Amrita with models for Young Girls Amrita, Indira, Denise Proutaux 1932, 11 Rue Bassano, Paris, France
This painting done in 1932 won Amrita Sher-Gil an associate membership at the Grand Salon in 1933.
Young Girls, 1932, by Amrita Sher-Gil. Amrita’s sister Indira sits on the left clothed in chic European garb, while the partially undressed figure in the foreground is a French friend, Denise Proutaux. This painting was awarded a Gold Medal at the Grand Salon in 1933. Now in the collection of National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. More on this painting
Sher-Gil traveled throughout her life to various countries including Turkey, France, and India, deriving heavily from precolonial Indian art styles and its current 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 Bengal Renaissance. She was also an avid reader and a pianist. Sher-Gil's paintings are among the most expensive by Indian women painters today, although few acknowledged her work when she was alive.
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941)
Hungarian gypsy girl, c. 1932
Oil on canvas
Height: 54 cm (21.2 in); Width: 82 cm (32.2 in) .
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Amrita Sher-Gil was born on 30 January 1913 in Budapest, Hungary. She spent most of early childhood in Budapest. She was the niece of Indologist Ervin Baktay. Baktay guided her by critiquing her work and gave her an academic foundation to grow on. When she was a young girl she would paint the servants in her house, and get them to model for her. The memories of these models would eventually lead to her return to India.
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941)
Self-portrait, c. 1931
Oil on canvas
25 5/8 x 21¼ in. (65.1 x 54 cm.)
Private Collection.
Her family faced financial problems in Hungary. In 1921, her family moved to Summer Hill, Shimla, India. Though she was already painting since the age of five, she formally started learning painting at age eight. Sher-Gil started getting formal lessons in the art by Major Whitmarsh, who was later replaced by Beven Pateman. In Shimla, Sher-Gil lived a relatively privileged lifestyle. As a child, she was expelled from her convent school for declaring herself an atheist.
In 1923, Marie came to know an Italian sculptor, who was living at Shimla at the time. In 1924, when he returned to Italy, she too moved there too. He got her enrolled at Santa Annunziata, an art school at Florence. Though Amrita didn't stay at this school for long and returned to India in 1924, it was here that she was exposed to works of Italian masters.
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941)
Portrait of a Young Man, Boris Taslitzky, c. 1930
Oil on canvas
Height: 76 cm (29.9 in); Width: 63.3 cm (24.9 in)
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
At sixteen, Sher-Gil sailed to Europe with her mother to train as a painter at Paris. She drew inspiration from European painters such as Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin, while working under the influence of her teacher Lucien Simon and the company of artist friends and lovers like Tazlitsky (See above). While in Paris, she is said to have painted with a conviction and maturity rarely seen in a 16-year old.
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941)
Adam and Eve
Pencil and watercolour on paper
20.3 x 13.3 cm
Private collection
Sher-Gil's early paintings display a significant influence of the Western modes of painting, more specifically, the post-impressionism style. She practiced a lot in the Bohemian circles of Paris in the early 1930s. Her 1932 oil painting, Young Girls (See above), came as a breakthrough for her; the work won her accolades, including a gold medal and election as an Associate of the Grand Salon in Paris in 1933. She was the youngest ever member, and the only Asian to have received this recognition.
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941)
Sleep, c. 1932
Oil on canvas
112.5 × 79 cm
National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi
Amrita Sher-Gil
Self Portrait as Tahitian, c. 1934
Oil on canvas
Collection of Navina and Vivan Sundaram
Sher-Gil encountered the paintings of Paul Gauguin during a visit to the National Gallery in London. Gauguin used expressive colour and stylised figures to represent life on Tahiti, and his work influenced Sher-Gil’s own depictions of the non-western body. In Self Portrait as Tahitian she self-consciously plays on her status as the exotic ‘other’ in metropolitan Paris. More on this painting
Her work during this time include a number of self-portraits, as well as life in Paris, nude studies (See above), still life studies, and portraits of friends and fellow students.
The National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi describes her self-portraits she made while in Paris as "capturing the artist in her many moods – somber, pensive, and joyous – while revealing a narcissistic streak in her personality."
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Malcolm Muggeridge
Oil on Canvas
59cm x 80.5cm
National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi
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." Sher-Gill returned to India at the end of 1934. In May 1935, Sher-Gil met the English journalist Malcolm Muggeridge (See above), then working as assistant editor and leader writer for The Calcutta Statesman. Shimla and Muggeridge had a short intense affair during which she painted a casual portrait of her new lover, the painting now with the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi (See above).
By September 1935 Amrita saw Muggeridge off as he traveled back to England for new employment. She left herself 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. 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.
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Bride's Toilet, c. 1937
Oil on canvas
H: 146 x W: 88.8 cm
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
These women look awfully glum about the ensuing wedding festivities….probably because this is an arranged marriage and neither the bride, nor the groom in the corresponding painting, Brahmacharis want to be together. More on this painting
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Brahmacharis/ Celibate, c. 1937
Oil on canvas
144x86.5 cm
I have no further description, at this time
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
South Indian Villagers Going to Market, c. 1937
Oil on canvas
I have no further description, at this time
Later in 1937, she toured South India and produced her South Indian trilogy of paintings Bride's Toilet (See above), Brahmacharis (See above), and South Indian Villagers Going to Market (See above), following her visit to the Ajanta Caves, when she made a conscious attempt to return to classical Indian art. These paintings reveal her passionate sense of color 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' which was, according to her, to express the life of Indian people through her canvas.
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941)
Group of Three Girls, c.1935
Oil on canvas
Height: 99.5 cm (39.1 in); Width: 73.5 cm (28.9 in)
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Group of Three Girls, by Amrita Sher-Gil, won her a gold medal from the Bombay Art Society.
Sher-Gil wrote to a friend thus: "I can only paint in India. Europe belongs to Picasso, Matisse, Braque.... India belongs only to me". Her stay in India marks the beginning of a new phase in her artistic development, one that was distinct from the European phase of the interwar years when her work showed an engagement with the works of Hungarian painters, especially the Nagybanya school of painting.
Sher-Gil married her Hungarian first cousin, Dr. Viktor Egan when she was 25. Thus began her second phase of painting which equals in its impact on Indian art.
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Village Scene, c. 1938
Oil on canvas
I have no further description, at this time
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Siesta
Oil on canvas
I have no further description, at this time
It was during her stay at Saraya that Sher-Gil painted the Village Scene (See above), In the Ladies' Enclosure, and Siesta (See above), all of which portray the leisurely rhythms of life in rural India. Siesta (See above) and In the Ladies' Enclosure reflect her experimentation with the miniature school of painting while Village Scene reflects influences of the Pahari school of painting. Although acclaimed by art critics Karl Khandalavala in Bombay and Charles Fabri in Lahore as the greatest painter of the century, Sher-Gil's paintings found few buyers.
Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941)
Marie Louise Chassany, Painter, c. 1932
Oil on canvas
66.5cm x 92cm
I have no further description, at this time
In 1932, Amrita Sher-Gil painted this portrait of Marie Louise Chassany, who was a fellow student at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and also an intimate friend (See above).
In September 1941, Egan and Sher-Gil 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 on the top floor of the townhouse she inhabited. Sher-Gil was known for her many affairs with both men and women, and she also painted many of the latter. Her work Two Women is thought to be a painting of herself and her lover Marie Louise. Some of her later works include Tahitian (See above), Red Brick House (1938), Hill Scene (1938), and The Bride (See above) among others. Her last work was left unfinished just prior to her death in December 1941.
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. She later died around midnight on 5 December 1941, 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. 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. More on Amrita Sher-Gil
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