Amrita Sher Gil: Glory Of Indian Art Who Lived A Cheery Life
Updated: Dec 7, 2022
Women painters like Amrita Sher Gil are immediately thought of when discussing the most emblematic Indian female artist. In her brief but productive career as a painter, she left behind a substantial body of work that continues to inspire us today. She is known as one of the greatest avant-garde woman artists of the early 20th century, a pioneer in modern Indian art, and Frida Kahlo of India. Apart from this fact, it is known that she was an atheist. Amrita Sher Gil paintings are immediately recognizable when you walk into her museum due to their vivid colours and boldness. Born in Hungary on 30 January 1913, she was the daughter of a Sikh aristocrat, a scholar in Persian and Sanskrit, Umrao Singh, and an affluent bourgeois family Hungarian-Jewish opera singer, Marie Antoniette Gottesmann. You might be thinking, despite being born in Hungary, how come she became the most provincial and famous artist in India? It is worth reading this article in this case.
As we read through her life journal, we got inspired by her travels and way of life. So we thought to introduce it here. Amrita Sher Gil started learning the art of painting when she was only eight years old, after becoming enamoured with the medium at a young age. When she was 19, her oil painting Young Girls (1932) garnered widespread recognition. While she spent her childhood in Budapest, she returned to India in 1921. Ervin Bakhtay, whom she was niece, took notice of her talent for paintings, and so he inspired her to draw. Criticizing her work, he helped her build an academic foundation. She used to paint the servants in her house when she was a child and had them as models for her. It was these memories that led her to return to India. When she moved to India with her family in 1921, she learned piano and took concerts in Shimla alongside acting in plays at Shimla's Gaiety Theatre at Mall Road with her sister Indira. You might be amazed that she was even dismissed from a convent school since she declared herself an Atheist. These were the days of her early life that is complex to understand her personally for us.
Career, Later Life And Controversies.
1923- She was in the period when her mother, Marie, knew an Italian sculptor. As a result, Marie decided to bring her to Italy with him and enrolled her in school. Even so, Amrita's heart belonged to India. That is why she returned to India in 1924.
When she was 16, Amrita Sher Gil sailed to Europe with her mother and trained as a painter in Paris, first at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and then at the École des Beaux-Arts.
Artist name | Amrita Sher-Gil |
Date of birth | 30 January 1913 |
Date of death | 5 December 1941 |
Period | Modern Indian Period |
Medium | Oil painting |
French painters like Paul Cézanne and Gauguin were her inspirations.
In addition to the influence of her teacher Lucien Simon, she had friends and lovers, including Tazlitsky.
Her paintings in Paris are said to be marked by a maturity and conviction unusual for a 16-year-old.
In her early 1930s, she practiced a lot more Bohemian circles in Paris. She achieved recognition with her first oil painting, Young Girls, in 1932, earning accolades and even becoming the youngest Asian Associate of the Grand Salon of Paris. A nagging desire to return to India began to haunt Amrita Sher Gil in 1933, and at the end of 1934, she returned to India. In 1936, she left herself to travel, finding roots in India. The Pahari and Mughal paintings and the cave paintings of Ajanta greatly inspired her.
In 1937, when she visited South India, she followed her visit to Indian classical art and produced paintings Bride's Toilet, Brahmacharis, and South Indian Villagers Going to Market. It seems that these paintings reveal the artist's passion for colour depicting poverty and despair.
In Saraya, Amrita Sher Gil wrote to a friend,
"I can only paint in India. Europe belongs to Picasso, Matisse, Braque... India belongs only to me."
Through this fact, we understand that she was one of the famous Indian female artist who loved Mother India as much as she loved her artwork.
When she was 25, she married Dr Viktor Egan, with whom she moved to Saraya, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. During this time, she met Rabindranath Tagore, Abanindranath Tagore, when the Bengal renaissance was at its peak. Her paintings depict the use of Chiaroscuro and the bright colours used by Abanindranath. During her stay at Saraya, Amrita Sher Gil painted the Village Scene, In the Ladies' Enclosure, and Siesta, which all depict the leisurely rhythms of rural Indian life. Her paintings of Indian villagers and women reflect their situation as poor, distressed, and deprived. Her inspirations include Gandhi's philosophy as well as his lifestyle.
In October 1940, Nehru visited Saraya in Gorakhpur and was captivated by her beauty and talent. At one point, Congress considered using her paintings in its propaganda to rebuild villages.
She was known for her too many love affairs with men and women. Nonetheless, despite her complex personality, she became the most recognizable Indian female artist.
Like a meteor, Amrita Sher Gil blazed through Indian art history. Among Indian modern artists, her place is undoubtedly preeminent. It's not surprising that her aesthetic sensibility has elements of Europe and India.
Life was Sher-Gil's passion, drinking what it had to offer down to the last drop. Even so, she still carried an underlying melancholy that manifested itself in the pensive faces of her subjects and their sombre poses.
Her paintings drew attention, and the life she led through her terms is true indeed.
Amrita Sher Gil - Inspirations and Legacy.
On 31.01.2013, the National Gallery of Modern Art released “Special Cover,” by the Department of the post, the release of two Portfolios on Amrita Sher Gil on the occasion of her birthday. In addition to being a featured personality, a film directed by Navina Sundaram followed.
Amrita Sher-Gil Cultural Center is an art centre dedicated to Indian culture in Budapest.
Amrita Sher-Gil's 100th birthday was declared the International Year of Amrita Sher Gil by UNESCO in 2013.
In Amrita Chowdhury's contemporary novel Faking It, Sher-Gil's work is a central theme.
In 2018, The New York Times published a belated obituary for her.
Jimmy Sher-Gil, the Mohabbatein star, is related to her directly. It is said that Amrita Shergill was his great paternal aunt. Moving forward from her epic life journey, we will be displaying some of the awe-inspiring paintings. You will be fascinated by the stories they hold.
Paintings By Amrita Sher Gil.
1. Group of Three Girls.
Among Amrita Sher Gil paintings, this piece holds a special place in our hearts. This is originally from the year 1935. It also won a gold medal from the Bombay Art Society. Gaugin's influence on the flattening of figures is notable. From this point on, her use of brilliant red becomes more evident. Three women are sitting in a chair pose. Alongside, the vivid colors of saffron, red, and green fill the whole painting with absolute beauty. The dark-skinned color, restless eyes looking down, perfect nose, and weighty lower lips are some other traits of the women here. It somehow depicts the pain in the rural women's life where they are submissive to patriarchal society. Despite having a story of pain, the painting modestly displays joy. It seems Amrita Sher Gil has always felt emotions from her surrounding.
2. Sumair.
This artwork depicts the artist's cousin Sumair. In Amrita Sher Gil gallery of portraits, plenty of them are of her relatives and friends. In this painting, she has depicted Sumair wearing a clean bun while dressed up in a floral saree and drop earrings. The big round eyes, blushed cheeks, and red lipstick adds character to her appearance. In her right hand, she is holding flowers and the expressions are similar to the women in the painting Group Of Three Girls. The liveliness of the painting can be seen through contrasting colors of red and green.
3. Hungarian Gypsy Girl.
The artist made this painting in 1932 while vacationing in a Hungarian village. It was titled Hungarian Gypsy Girl. A tanned girl lying in the garden with brown hair and tanned hands is a classic example of the artist's style. The use of florals is also worth noticing in this artwork. On the lady's face, you can see her relaxed state. She has depicted the subject with effervescence and charm with a thick layer of pigments. The artist Amrita Sher Gil tends to depict his subjects with sharp features, thick lips, and flushed cheeks.
4. Ancient Story Teller.
This artwork, painted by Amrita Sher Gil with oil paints in 1940, depicts a combination of architecture and figures. The artist captured the essence of village life in this painting. Undoubtedly, Amrita used to portray things in her way. Maybe this is why she reflected well even amid pain in her artworks. Despite the thick pigment layer of the background, the colors are well highlighted. This work shows a family, perhaps a peasant family, with a woman preparing food. The man with his old white beard sits here telling fairy tales to the children. The two ladies gossiping behind them are delineating two different scenes. Behind the white monuments, even the tree leaves are seen with naked eyes. This kind of clarity in any painting is fascinating.
5. Hill Scene.
Painted in 1938, Amrita Sher Gil drew her from her last visit to Hungary. Earlier, she used to draw substantial paintings, but from this painting, it is visible that she demarcated the subject as well. There are bold colors in this painting. The background of this piece is beautifully emphasized and highlights the artist's art. In contrast to past times, it portrays some women walking together. Possibly, they are returning from somewhere through the woods. The red color is somehow missing in the following artwork. According to the clothing worn by women in the painting, it was created during a period when Amrita was influenced by traditional Indian culture. The painting even differentiates leaves or branches of trees from the rest.
6. Denise Proutaux.
We have previously mentioned the artist's habit of painting portraits of her close friends and family members. The painting depicts Denise Proutaux, a friend of the artist. She has painted her more than once. In this artwork, she is seen sitting with her side profile. Her perfect brown hair is tied in a bun. She is wearing the old classic black style dress with a hat and gloves. The pink blush cheeks, sharp eyebrows, red lipstick are the eye-catching elements of her look.
7. Hungarian Village Market.
Indologist and historian Gyula Wojtilla credits this painting as "The Hungarian Market Scene," painted in 1938. However, in the exhibition catalog of Amrita Sher Gil: An Indian artist family of the twentieth century, its tentative year is 1939. It is visible that the painter has a style of forming painting on a dark color thick pigment layer. She has infused dark colors as a background and contrasted that with white buildings and brown roofs. The market is crowded with people wearing the same black dress form and holding their wooden tongs for support. Its crowd is joyous and turbulent, and so is the painting.
8. Haldi Grinders.
The artist painted this idyllic rural scene in 1940. During the last few years of her life, her paintings are pervaded by vibrant, saturated colors. Several scholars have commented on how the use of color in these paintings is influenced by the Basholi tradition and other miniature traditions. This painting depicts three women with yellow, white, and red saris against a natural background in the middle of the picture plane. Behind the tree, a representation of a woman appears to be resting in black and brown, also attracting the viewer's attention. With bright colors on the dress as well as a blurry brown background and massive trees, the viewer is put under immense stress.
9. Woman On Charpai.
The work of art here, painted in 1940, exemplifies passive feminist imagery. By incorporating domestic scenes of women's intricacies in the most comfortable way, Amrita Sher Gil revolutionized the paintings that were considered feminine. There is a charpai covered in a white sheet with a lady sleeping on it in a more comfortable way than the standard woman's posture. A second woman uses a hand fan. The room depicts the way of living at earlier times with an earthen pot (Matka) in each room for cold water. Each of the domestic scenes depicted by the artist carries the modeling of the feminine world.
10. Open Air Painters.
This exquisite depiction from the sanctuary of Amrita Sher Gil’s artworks is yet another imprint of Indian modern a