Question

Assess the role of Amrita Shergil in the development of contemporary Indian Art.

Answer 1

Answer:

Amrita Sher-Gil is among the pioneers of modern Indian paintings. She was born in Hungary (Budapest, in 1913) and grew up in a Sikh family. Her father was a Sikh aristocrat and her mother was a Hungarian musician. She took her artistic education from Florence and from the world famous Ecole Nationale Des Beaux Arts under the direction of Lucien Simon. After working in Europe, she returned to the Indian sub-continent in 1934 and started to depict the spirit of rural life through paintings. She was an admirer of frescos of Ajanta and Ellora caves and loved Indian miniature paintings. She was wholeheartedly devoted to Indian art and culture and her devotion is immensely blended in her paintings after her arrival in the sub-continent. She had married her cousin Victor Egan and spent her last moments in Lahore (Pakistan). Her artistic voyage has remained unnished due to her sudden death at the age of 28. She particularly painted rural women in a strong and powerful manner and almost succeeded in capturing some neglected areas of the life of women in dull color schemes (Luker and Ann 2002, Sinha 2003, Sen 2006). In Amrita Sher-Gil’s paintings, a cultural variation may be seen between the two periods of her life, rst one during her residence in Europe and the next one after her arrival in the sub-continent. It is her hybridity which made her an accomplished observer of the indigenous spirit of sub-continental culture. She gripped the intimacy of the Eastern culture after exploring the multiplicity of the Western one. She admied, after coming to the sub-continent, that it is the only solution to her artistic pursuit. This residential switch from Eastern to Western world is not only visible in her life style but is reflected in her paintings as well. Likewise, her personality, living style, dressing sense also changed after relocating. She was fascinated more by folk and rural culture than the urban one (Sundaram 2010).

Answer 2

Amrita Sher-Gil is often considered a pioneer of modern art in the country, as her works have influenced and inspired a number of modern greats. India Post issued a stamp of her painting "Hill Women" in 1978. In Lutyen's Delhi, a road is named after the painter, known as Amrita Shergil Marg. The Budapest Indian Cultural Center was named after her. In 2013, the 100th anniversary of her birth was declared by UNESCO as the International Year of Amrita Sher-Gil. She was inspired by many plays and novels, including Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh.

Amrita Sher-Gil crossed cultures and borders between Hungary, India, and France several times before her return to India in 1934. Her paintings testify to various cultural influences and the artist's struggle with her hybrid identity. When her turbulent life ended in 1941, Sher-Gil's work was still in the process of development.

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