Interpreter of people's lives
A biography charms Takir Hossain
Amrita Sher Gil
A Painted Life
Geeta Doctor
Rupa Charitavali Series
This is a revealing biography of Amrita Sher Gil, who has remained a symbol of modern Indian art since the early twentieth century. Sher Gil's passionate intensity and devotion to art placed her at the core of aesthetics in the Indian sub-continent in the early 1930s. In her unfortunately short life, she blazed across the Indian art scene and challenged the landscape of Indian thoughts, feelings and imagination. She gave a touch of the modern to and a fresh look at Indian modern art. The book deals extensively with the ins and outs of the painter. One can easily finish reading it in one sitting owing to its soothing and alluring language. The writer has tried to draw on all aspects of Sher Gil's brief life in her engaging work.
Amrita Sher Gil was not a product of the Indian or Punjabi socio-cultural milieu as such owing to her mixed heritage. She was the daughter of Sardar Umrao Singh Shergil and Antoinette, a Hungarian woman. She was born in Budapest in 1913 and spent the vital years of her life in Europe. She began dabbling in paint in her early childhood. Her intelligent mother detected the talent latent in her and encouraged her to paint. She took her to Italy and Paris, the breeding ground of artistic activity and the birthplace of many artists and art movements in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Amrita Sher Gil came by the chance to study at the reputed art school in Paris, the Ecole des Beaux Arts, under the competent guidance of great masters. Besides living in Paris, she took full advantage of her time there visiting art galleries, museums and the studios of famous painters. She studied the works of contemporary and ancient master painters in the original.
Amrita Sher Gil's work done during her stay in Europe till 1934 was largely academic, consisting of still life, nude studies, portraits and the like. In spite of her schooling in western art, she had complete consciousness of and deep respect for India's artistic traditions. "I am personally trying to be, through the medium of line, colour and design, an interpreter of the life of the people, particularly the life of the poor and sad. But I approach the problem on the more abstract plane of the purely pictorial, not only because I hate cheap emotional appeal and I am not, therefore, a propagandist of the picture that tells a story." That was Amrita Sher Gil.
All Sher Gil's paintings portray incredibly thin, starving men and women. She painted the Pahari villagers whom she met around her Summer Hill residence in Simla, in her works captioned Hill Men and Hill Women. Then followed more works painted in the same style such as Bride's Toilet, Fruit Vendors, Brahmachari, etc. All the figures painted by her, especially those of women, have lacklustre eyes, an expression of resignation and despondency writ large on their drawn faces. Being a woman, she was naturally more interested in painting women and their activities. Since she was completely unfamiliar with their milieu, both social and family, she was fascinated by them, with their cloistered, shackled lives through which they moved like shadows. This mood of sorrow prevails in all her paintings.
Amrita Sher Gil is now a rare collection in India. Her paintings now fetch anywhere from Rs 15 to 20 crores. That is not a startling figure for many art collectors in India. The art market has been booming for the last many years in India. Sher Gil lived a very short life but her contribution to Indian art remains significantly worthwhile. Since her death, art critics and researchers have worked assiduously on her legacy.
Takir Hossain is a journalist, art critic and reviewer.
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