Скачать или смотреть Interesting Art Stories: 13. Three Girls, Amrita Sher-Gil, ACJ Art Academy

How are you?

On every Thursday, I am introducing the stories about various artists and their paintings with the title “Interesting Art Stories”.

The 13th story for this week is "Three Girls" by an Indian painter Amrita Sher-Gil.

“Three Girls” is a portrait by Amrita Sher-Gil, an Indian artist, who was often considered to be the Indian ‘Frida Kahlo’.

Born on January 30, 1913 and died on December 5, 1941, Sher-Gil has been called "one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20th century" and "a pioneer in modern Indian art.”

She began getting formal art education at the age of eight and first gained recognition for her oil painting titled “Young Girls (1932)” at the age of 19.
Sher-Gil, at age 28, died around midnight on December 5, 1941, after being seriously ill and slipping into a coma just days before the opening of her first major solo exhibition in Lahore. The cause of her death has not been ascertained, but a failed abortion and subsequent peritonitis have been suggested as possible cause of death.

This work, painted in 1935, depicting three women in colorful clothes, contemplating a destiny they are unable to change, is the first work painted by Sher-Gil after returning from Europe to India in 1934. Instead of drawing them sensually, Sher-Gil described them as characters who are going through great adversity but have the spirit that can transcend their destiny that cannot be changed.

Their unhappy and sad face expressions reflect the artist's empathy for their predicament, and it seems that Sher-Gil never made any attempts to express their background to highlight themselves. This work is an emotional story that captures the pathos of Indian women who do not have a say in their own futures, and their facial expressions, body language and the tones of colors used represent the melancholy itself.

It turns out that the models of this famous painting are sisters named as “Beant Kaur”, “Narwair Kaur” and “Gurbhajan Kaur”, the grand-daughters of “Sunder Singh Majithia”, the younger brother of Amrita’s father “Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Majithia.”

When Sher-Gil visited her grandparents' home for a holiday, she met the sisters there. She was fascinated by the innocent charm they exuded and thus decided to paint them.

This work shows her move from academic and realist style of painting studied in Paris towards a modern work style where line and color are prominently used. The work also reflects the influence of the works of French painter Paul Gauguin on her work.

This work won the Gold Medal at the annual exhibition of the Bombay Art Society in 1937.

Thank you.

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