Artwork Title: Self Portrait

Self Portrait, 1931

Amrita Sher-Gil

The short life and extraordinary talent of Amrita Sher-Gil, one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20th century Amrita Sher-Gil was a pioneer in the history of modern Indian art, and in the 28 years of her brief life was a revolution personified. Born in Budapest in 1913 to a Hungarian mother and Indian father, Sher-Gil was a tour de force in the landscape of Modernism in British India. Living between India, Hungary and France, Sher-Gil painted the life of people and her surroundings with an intensity that remains unparalleled in modern Indian art. Her talent for the arts was discovered very early on and encouraged and nurtured by her mother, Marie Antoinette, who came from an affluent bourgeois family in Budapest. Her uncle, Ervin Baktay, an Indologist and a former painter himself, noticed Sher-Gil’s talent for painting during his visit to Simla in 1926 and was an advocate of her artistic pursuits.... This self portrait from 1931 is one of her undiscovered paintings, never before seen or exhibited [as of May 26, 2015]. It remained in France from the time it was painted and is making its maiden voyage across the continent, first to New York and then to London. The year 1931 was a very productive, exciting and yet emotionally tumultuous year for the artist — she was only 18. She had found herself in Paris, completely at home in smoky, dimly-lit cafés with artist friends and intellectuals. Summers were spent in Hungary with cousins, which were some of her happiest moments, evident from her letters to her parents from Zebegeny. However, trouble was brewing since her family’s income had shrunk enormously. This was also the time when Sher-Gil was briefly engaged to Yusuf Ali Khan, son of Raja Nawab Ali, a wealthy taluqdar from Uttar Pradesh. Sher-Gil’s mother fancied Yusuf as her son-in-law, while rumors had it that Sher-Gil was having an affair with her first cousin Victor Egan, much to her mother’s disapproval. Sher-Gil painted portraits of these two men in 1931, both gazing introspectively at a distance. This self portrait in profile is the only one known among the 19 previously known self portraits in which the artist is in complete profile, avoiding any interaction with the viewer. The golden bowl sitting empty between her and the viewer reflects the emotional emptiness that she may have experienced as an 18-year-old, torn between the various loves of her life. Despite her troubled love life and having to manage her mother’s emotions, 1931 was also a year in which Sher-Gil felt she was beginning to really paint well. In a letter to her mother from October 1931 she wrote: ‘I painted a few very good paintings. Everybody says that I have improved immensely; even that person whose criticism in my view is most important to me — my own self’. Celebrating her achievements and contribution to Modern Indian art, the Indian Government recognized her as a National Treasure artist in 1976. The majority of her works are in the collection of the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, and these are among the 172 documented works from the artist’s oeuvre. It is, therefore, a true privilege to discover a painting by Sher-Gil, which was previously unknown to her collectors and admirers, and to offer it the world stage it deserves. (In June 2015 sold for £1,762,500 / $2.92 million [https://www.thequint.com/lifestyle/amrita-sher-gil-a-heroine-of-two-nations-artist-india-pakistan-self-portrait-freedom-struggle-oil-paintings-canvas] ) [https://www.christies.com/features/Amrita-Sher-Gil-Revolution-Personified-6132-1.aspx]
Uploaded on Mar 29, 2018 by Suzan Hamer

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