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Introducing life and hues to the Indian landscape of art in the 1930's, was a woman who simply existed in the quintessence of her being. A dazzling metaphor, and a diaspora of identities, Amrita Shergill brought more than artistic emancipation to our country. A one-woman revolution, Shergill shall live on as a legend in the broad conscious agreement of not just our nation, but perhaps the entire world for all that she contributed and embodied.
Illustration by The Geostrata
Looking into the pages of history, Budapest, Hungary witnessed a cold and crisp sunrise on the 30th of January, 1913. At the same time, Sardar Umrai Singh Shergil and Marie Antoinette Gottesmann were blessed with a little girl, who was then named Amrita, after the holy sikh city Amritsar.
Despite their roots being complicatedly diverse, with their father being a Sikh aristocrat and mother a Hungarian-Jewish, Amrita along with her sister, Indira Shergil were baptised to become Roman Catholics, which in technicality and rather momentarily, changed Amrita’s name to Amrita Antonia. The Baptism stemmed from their mother’s fear of an improper burial but had negligible significance in the latter parts of their lives.
With the volatile setting of World War 1 in play, Shergil’s family, in 1916 had moved to Dunaharaszti, concealed to a large extent from the catastrophic backdrop that the world was set in. It won't be wrong to assume that it was only in Dunaharaszti that the artistic spirit in Amrita found the appropriate space and environment to come out and shape herself.
The mise-en-scene encouraged her in all ways possible; the serenity of nature, the bucolics of rural life with its people and wildlife, and the magnificent neo-classical architecture, all were crucial catalysts. Amrita began using coloured pencils to depict rural life, and folk tales through her illustration work, which was astoundingly good. Additionally, she would compose stories and poems giving way for her creativity and imagination to flow.
Her work was undoubtedly admirable, so much so that Jászai Mari, writer Pastor Arpad, and the psychoanalyst Dr Ujhelyi were just a few of the notable people who paid compliments to it.
En route to India, in 1921, the family along with Amrita made a quick stop in Paris, France at her mother’s request. Little Amrita here found herself awestruck at the artistic treasures the city had to offer. Walking through the walls of The Louvre, and standing in front of The Mona Lisa, captivated the young girl, stirring and igniting the sense of artistic change in her.
Interestingly Amrita finds her way back to Paris years later to formally study art, initially at the Grande Chaumière and then at École des Beaux-Arts.
This sense of self would only multiply with time, to unfold the glorious legend that India would cherish for a very long time. It was Jaszai Marai, who had told Amrita’s mother “ Dear child, she is too beautiful and unselfish to live a happy life” which somewhere was an early indication of the life that lay ahead of the Indo-Hungarian artist.
With the gradual and inevitable descent of time, Amrita Shergil went on to become “one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20th century". She lived 28 years of a brilliant aesthetic that we today hold and cherish with utmost honour and prestige.
The spirit of the artist's artwork is true to the humble marriage of the indigenous Indian elements and tradition and her Western learnings and techniques. What was created stood in utmost contrast to the contemporaries of Amrita, who would often use subtle colour schemes, whereas her work, in the boldest of colours, contained raw portraits and rural depictions of the country, where the reflection of Amrita herself was perfectly evident; where Amrita, in the rawest and truest of forms, stood as the personification of paintings.
Looking for ways to put her soul into art, she traversed the country far and wide. Her gaze was filled with curiosity, empathy and passion to create as she observed the country to its core- from the people in their most unrefined state to the art that adored the country in all its glory.
And so it did, crossing generations and art styles, the work of the artist remains to stand at the pinnacle of India's Artistic landscape, translating itself ever so brilliantly in all times and ages. Her works like “The Storyteller” and “The Three Girls” are considered absolute examples of modern art, with women, raw and beautiful, as its protagonists.
Additionally, Shergil today stands as an unparalleled fashion icon. When in Paris, she embodied fashion like no other. Even though one could find her dressed in the Western Bohemian aesthetic, she often was dressed in a saree, which added to her already present sense of individualistic exoticism ( that her paintings were mostly devoid of ).
Designer Bibhu Mohapatra’s spring-summer collection 2021 was inspired by the timeless legend herself. An icon ahead of her time, she brought with herself the beginning of modern art in India. She brought a confident sense of individualism to the realm of womanhood that the designer, in her collection, so beautifully highlighted, along with her feminine, sophisticated and elegant traits.
BY TAMANNA ARORA
TEAM GEOSTRATA
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