Breaking Bastions : Amrita Sher Gil

Dr. Seema Bawa

Amrita Sher-Gil has today become associated with hype rather than with the substance of her art and its contribution to modern Indian art. Though every few years there are exhibitions showcasing her works; in the popular perception she is more a persona exemplifying glamour and excitement of quasi feudal era (even the road named after her is in a very upmarket section of the city) than a painter of significance. Amrita Sher-Gil brought certain European bohemian ways into the upper echelons of Indian society during the interwar period. More importantly, however, she introduced modern Western art into the Indian painting tradition. In her short (1913-1941) but eventful life, she changed the face of modern Indian art. It may be debatable whether she can be called one of the first moderns, but she was undisputedly the first woman painter of repute and with a distinct personal style. She stood between the East and the West, the past and the future.

She had an unusual upbringing, probably due to her mixed parentage. The result of the marriage between Sardar Umrao Singh a Sikh nobleman of the Majitha family, and Marie Antoinette, a Hungarian mother of bourgeois origins, Amrita Sher-Gil was born in Budapest in 1913 and spent her early childhood in Hungary. It was only in 1920 that she first set foot in India. In fact, her life demonstrates that she was more attached to Europe than to India though some of her best works applauded then and now, have a thoroughly Indian theme.