Amrita Sher-Gil

Born: January 1913

Died: December 6, 1941
Amrita Shergill was a renowned Indian painter. She was one of the most charismatic and
promising Indian artists of the pre-colonial era. Most of her paintings reflect vividly her love for
the country and more importantly her response to the life of its people.

Amrita Shergill was born in Hungary in 1913. Her father was a Sikh aristocrat and her mother
was Hungarian. Both her parents were artistically inclined. Her father, Umrao Singh Majitha,
was a Sanskrit Scholar and her mother, Marie Antoinette, was a pianist. Amrita spent her early
childhood in the village of Dunaharasti in Hungary. In 1921 her family moved to Shimla. It was
at this time that Amrita Shergil developed interest in painting. An Italian Sculptor used to live in
Shimla. In 1924, when the Italian Sculptor moved to Italy, Amrita Shergill's mother too moved
with there along with Amrita.

In Italy Amrita was enrolled at Santa Anunciata, a Roman Catholic institution. Amrita did not like
the strict discipline of the Catholic school but on the flip side she was exposed to the works of
the Italian masters and this further fanned her interest in painting. In 1927, Amrita Shergil
returned to India and began taking lessons in painting under Ervin Backlay. But Ervins
insistence that Amrita should copy real life models exactly as she saw them irked Amrita and
thus her painting stint under Ervin Backlay was short lived.

In 1929, at the age of sixteen, Amrita Shergil sailed to France to study Art. She took a degree in
Fine Arts from the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris. She also learnt to speak and write French. It
was in France that she started painting seriously. The Torso, one of her early paintings was a
masterly study of a nude which stood out for its cleverness of drawing and bold modeling. In
1933, Amrita completed Young Girls. Critics and Art enthusiasts were so impressed by Young
Girls that Amrita Shergill was elected as Associate of the Grand Salon in Paris. Amrita was the
youngest ever and the only Asian to be honored thus.

In 1934, Amrita Shergill returned to India and evolved her own distinct style which, according to
her, was fundamentally Indian in subject, spirit, and technical expression. Now the subject of his
paintings were the poor, the villagers and beggars. In 1937, Amrita Shergill went on a tour of
South India. This gave her the opportunity to achieve the simplicity she always wanted in her
paintings. In 1938, Amrita Shergill went to Hungary and married her cousin Victor Egan much to
the opposition of her parents. She married purely for security reasons as she felt that she was
essentially weak and needed someone to take care of her. In 1939, Amrita Shergill returned
back to India and started painting again. After her return her health deteriorated and she died
on December 6, 1941.





Education

Amrita Sher-Gil was born in Budapest, Hungary to Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Majithia,
a Sikh aristocrat and a scholar in Sanskrit and Persian, and Marie Antoniette Gottesmann,
a Jewish opera singer from Hungary. Her mother came to India as a companion of Princess
Bamba Sutherland. Sher-Gil was the elder of two daughters born. Her younger sister was Indira
Sundaram (ne Sher-Gil), mother of the contemporary artist Vivan Sundaram. She spent most
of early childhood in Budapest. She was the niece of IndologistErvin Baktay. He guided her by
critiquing her work and gave her an academic foundation to grow on. He also instructed her to
use servants as models. The memories of these models would eventually lead to her return to
India.
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. Though she was already
painting since the age of five she formally started learning painting at age eight.

In 1923, Marie came to know an Italian sculptor, who was living at Shimla at the time and in
1924 when he returned to Italy, she too moved to Italy along with Amrita and 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.
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 andLucien Simon and later at cole des Beaux-
Arts (193034),

she drew inspiration from European painters such as Paul Czanneand Paul
Gauguin, while coming under the influence of her teacher Lucien Simon and the company of
artist friends and lovers likeBoris Tazlitsky. Her early paintings display a significant influence of
the Western modes of painting, especially as practiced in the Bohemian circles of Paris in the
early 1930s. In 1932,, she made her first important work, Young Girls, which led to her election
as an Associate of the Grand Salon in Paris in 1933, making her the youngest ever and the only
Asian to have received this recognition.


Work

Three girl
Young girl
Hill woman
Brides toilet
Tribal women
Red clay elephant
South Indian villagers






South Indian Villagers Going to Market, 1937.
Later in 1937, she toured South India and produced the famous South Indian trilogy of
paintings Bride's Toilet, Brahmacharis, andSouth Indian Villagers Going to Market 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 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' which was,
according to her, to express the life of Indian people through her canvas. While in Saraya 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 European phase of the interwar years when
her work showed an engagement with the works of Hungarian painters, especially
the Nagybanya school of painting.
Amrita's art was strongly influenced by the paintings of the two Tagores, Rabindranath
and Abanindranath who were the pioneers of the Bengal School of painting. Her portraits of
women resemble works by Rabindranath while the use of chiaroscuro and bright colours reflect
the influence of Abanindranath.
It was during her stay at Saraya that she 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 miniature school of
painting whileVillage 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, Amrita's paintings found few buyers. She travelled across India
with her paintings but the Nawab Salar Jung of Hyderabad returned them and the Maharaja of
Mysore chose Ravi Varma's paintings over hers.


Although from a family that was closely tied to the British Raj, Amrita herself 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. In September 1941, Victor and Amrita
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. Amrita was known for her many affairs with both men and
women and many of the latter she also painted. Her work Two Women is thought to be a
painting of herself and her lover Marie Louise.




Three Girls is a painting by Amrita Sher-Gil, an Indian artist. It was painted in 1935; the first
work to be painted by Sher-Gil after returning to India from Europe in 1934.
[2]
Sometimes
referred to as Group of Three Girls, the painting won the Gold Medal at the annual exhibition of
the Bombay Art Society in 1937. The painting was part of a batch sent to Nawab Salar Jang of
Hyderabad who later rejected them all.
The painting shows three colourfully dressed women contemplating a destiny they are unable to
change. Amrita Sher-Gil did not sensualise her women but instead portrayed them as facing
great adversity yet having the spirit to transcend a destiny that they were unable to change.
Sher-Gil wrote:
I realized my real artistic mission, to interpret the life of Indians and particularly the poor Indians
pictorially; to paint those silent images of infinite submission and patience,... to reproduce on
canvas the impression those sad eyes created on me.
The painting reflects the influence of the works of French painter Paul Gauguin on Sher-Gil's
work.
[2]
It also marks Sher-Gil's move from an earlier academic and realist style of painting that
she had learned in Paris towards a flatter style with modern compositions, where line and colour


are prominently used. In Three Girls, the girls' surrounding is not shown. Their situation is made
evident through their facial expressions, their body language, and the skillful use of tones





Brides Toilet looks onto the scene of a dressing room where a fair-skinned child bride is the
center of attention. Two older women are in charge of seeing that the bride-to-be is made
presentable for her wedding. Meanwhile, two younger ones observe the goings-on with interest.
The majority of Sher-Gils subjects are female. No matter how diverse their backgrounds, she
could always put herself in the others shoes; their femininity provided enough of a common link.
The artist also harbored a deep fascination for poor Indian villagers; she was intrigued by their
hardship, something she, having grown up under the care of affluent parents, had never
experienced.
Therefore, it can be said that Sher-Gil was often drawn to her subjects because she deemed
them foreign, but would draw or depict something when moved by familiar human sentiment.
The artist clearly sympathizes with the brides dilemma, whom she portrays in a vulnerable
stance. The young girls body language speaks volumes: having accepted her fate, she is
composed. Nevertheless, her eyes lack the joyful sparkle expected of a bride-to-be. She gazes
over one shoulder and exudes a silent plea. The viewer gains the sense of being in the same
room. The bride's limp body expresses reluctance and displeasure at the coming loss of
childhood.



Amrita Sher-Gil's free spirit and artistic prowess completely captured and inspired Indian
artist for generations to come. She was one of the most celebrated painters of pre-
independence India and among the initiator of Indian modern art, merging European and
Hungarian traditions with ancient Indian art. She died at the age 28 and left behind an
oeuvre of almost two hundred brilliant paintings. Sher-Gil was a woman far ahead of her
time. Her legendary charm enraptured many - including, it is believed, India's future prime
minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. She was born in Budapet in 1913 to a Hungarian mother Marie
Antoinette Gottesmann and an aristocratic father Sardar Umrao Singh Sher-Gil of Majitha. A
world artist she was a perfect blend of East and West. She and her younger sister Indira
spent their early childhood in Budapest. Her mother's passion for music and her father's
deep interest in Sanskrit and Persian exposed Sher-Gil to a life rich in art and culture. Amrita
started drawing and painting at the age of five and later illustrated her mother's enchanting
Hungarian fairy tales. In 1921 the Sher-Gil family returned to India, and made their home in
Simla. However in 1923, Amrita's mother's involvement with an Italian sculptor inspired her
to move to Italy along with Amrita, who was enrolled at Santa Annunziata, an Art School at
Florence, giving her brief exposure to works of Italian masters. The drawings and
watercolours Amrita did between the ages of eleven and fourteen were European in
content. Naked women and landscapes seemed to evoke her self exploration. Painter turned
Indologist. Ervin Baktay was Amrita's uncle. He soon became her guide and mentor giving
her an academic foundation to grow on. He also encouraged her to study from life by using


her servants as models. It is the lasting memories of these models that eventually lead to her
return to India.

She would attentively listen to his criticism and told him later 'It is to you I owe my skill in
drawing'. Realizing her daughter's talent for art Marie moved her sixteen years old Amrita to
Paris to hone her artistic talent. Here she trained as a painter at Grande Chaumiere under
Pierre Vaillant and later at cole des Beaux-Arts (193034).Inspired by Paul Czanne and Paul
Gauguin, she was also influenced by her teacher Lucien Simon. In Paris her mode of painting
was western as it reflected the art of the Bohemian circles of the city in the early 1930s; she
was in her element with her avant garde friends of the art and literary world. Here she
painted Young Girls in 1932 her first significant work, which led to her election as an
Associate of the Grand Salon in Paris in 1933, making her the youngest ever and the only
Asian to have received this recognition hence. In this charming painting her 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. In 1934, while in Europe she "began to be
haunted by an intense longing to return to India," In response to her father's hesitancy
about her proposed return to India from Europe, claiming that she did not understand
Indian art and philosophy, she wrote "I wish to return primarily in interest of my artistic
development ...... Our long stay in Europe has aided me to discover as it were, India. Modern
art has led me to the comprehension and appreciation of Indian painting and sculpture. It
seems paradoxical, but I know for certain that, had we not come away to Europe, I should
perhaps never have realised that a fresco from Ajanta or a small piece of sculpture in the
Muse Guimet is worth more than the whole Renaissance.In short, now I wish to go back to
appreciate India and its worth ... She had "feeling in some strange way that there lay my
destiny as a painter", as she later wrote about her return to India, in the same year.





Once back home she was all set to discover her Indian tradition and art practices by
traveling and acquainting herself with her Indian roots. It was a journey that completely
absorbed her. She embarked on a visual language that would become an inspiration for
generations to come. She was captivated by the Mughal, Pahari, Kangra and Basholi schools
of painting and cave paintings at Ajanta Caves. Her new work was the blend of her travels,
her innate perception and a narrative that created a visual language akin to Indian
miniatures. However her canvases took on earthier, flat tones. Having mastered western
techniques of oil painting she created vignette of Indian rural life, with a flair that made the
most ordinary situation appear extraordinary. In her inimitable style she had captured India
like nobody had done before, focusing on the life of the poor rural Indian, narrating their
stories in a language that saw the emergence of contemporary Indian art. She moved away
from colonial circles to generate an Indian sense of modernity. She along with Rabindranath
Tagore heralded a cultural freedom that completely overtook the colonial views. They
inspired artists to create India in a visual narrative that was universal. Sher-Gil's work had a
wide appeal. "Hers is an art which moves naturally towards the melancholy and tragic, while
keeping its eye fixed firmly on high ideals of beauty wrote Salman Rushdie.



She was a strong willed beautiful woman who declared You will think I am self-
opinionated, in 1934, aged just 21, but I will stick to my intolerant ideas and to my
conviction. She went on to become an enlightened artist whose taste in art and literature
ranged from Rousseau, Verlaine, Proust, Renoir, Breughel to the splendor of the Ellora
carvings and Ajanta cave paintings revealing her heightened sensitivity. Sensuality and
beauty were important for Amrita. While referring to the Cochin frescoes in a passionate
letter to close friend Karl Khandalavala, the artist says all art, not excluding religious art, has
come into being because of sensuality: sensuality so great that it overflows the boundaries
of the physical. Sher Gil exudes sensuality in Woman resting on charpoy 1940 through the
passionate red apparel worn by the woman. The upward angle of her leg insinuates a
longing and anticipation aiming at the woman's concealed sexual desires. Sher-Gil's woman
is rustic, earthy and modern. The artist displays a quiet understanding of the psychology of
the feudal Indian woman whose restful appearance seems to camouflage her turmoil of
suppressed desires. The erotically suggestive pose along with the tilted charpoy insinuates a
strange intimacy. Amrita's time spent with a group of women, which included her female
relatives and servants, gave her an insight into the social and psychological problems of the
cloistered life of traditionally oriented Indian women. She understood their suppressed
desires, which she depicted with great panache in her paintings, like the eroticism that
exudes from The Swing 1940 where a languid sexuality pervades as the women begin to play
with the swing she saw the world through color and invited the viewer to share her unique
visual experience. In Bride's Toilet the artist captures the gentleness and innocence of the
bride in her inimitable style. Once again her brilliance and flair injects life into the feminine
activity of the women. Sher-Gil had a special fascination for the color red that is evident as it
stands out against the dark tones of her back ground. Here different shades of red are


highlighted by a contrasting green and a striking white color. Sher-Gil has used white in the
most breathtaking fashion in many of her paintings as is evident in The Ancient Story Teller
1940, Hill Women1935 and Brahmachari's. 1937. The white walls and dome in the horizon in
The Ancient Storyteller add a depth to the painting. The white veil worn in the foreground
stands out in contrast to the other garments in Hill Women and piece des resistance are the
white dhotis of the Brahmacharis which have been the inspiration of many artist of today.
The grouping of people added yet another dimension to her work like Three Women where
all are pensive with soulful exuding a quiet stillness. Her travels to South India impacted her
even more. She discovered the Padmanabhapuram and Mattancheri murals or frescos. In a
letter to her Sister Indu she tells of the frescos found in Cochin- I spend my days morning
and evening, that is to say till the light fails, at a deserted palace here. It contains some
perfectly marvelous old paintings that haven't been discovered yet. Nobody knows about
them and the local people, even so called responsible people, like the Diwan would destroy
them, I am sure. If that were in their power- because some of the panels depict erotic
scenes. Animals and birds are copulating with the utmost candor, but curiously the human
figures are never depicted in the act. It is only when one starts copying them that one
realizes what an astounding technique these people had and what an amazing knowledge of
form and power of observation they possessed. Curiously enough unlike the slender forms
of Ajanta, the figures are extremely heavy here. The drawing perhaps the most powerful I
have seen. The Cochin frescoes return in a passionate letter to Khandalavala, and it is clear
they influenced her deeply, just as Breughel did, and Renoir. She became convinced that all
art, not excluding religious art, has come into being because of sensuality: sensuality so
great that it overflows the boundaries of the physical. Amrita Sher Gil's contribution to
Indian art was enormous. Besides uplifting the spirit of womanhood she created a visual
language that found a balance between tradition and modernism. She injected a new
dynamism into the Indian art scene. Her strong poignant response to the life of village India -
was projected in compositions, which brilliantly combined Indian and Post-impressionist
styles, particularly that of Gaugin. Sher Gil showed the rich milieu, available to Indian artists
and highlighted the significance of technical `painterly' values in art.



I am an individualist, evolving a new technique, which, though not necessarily Indian in the
traditional sense of the word, will yet be fundamentally Indian in spirit. With the eternal
significance of form and color- Amrita Sher-Gil.