From the bland to the exotic
Amrita Sher-Gil is known as the Indian Frida Kahlo, and not just because she was that rare thing, a female artist in an era dominated by men. Like Kahlo, she died young (at 28) and while her paintings were self-consciously 'exotic' and sensual, she also lived a life of free love with a bohemian lack of restraint.
Born to an aristocratic Sikh father and a cultured Hungarian mother in 1913, Sher-Gil spent her early life in India and Budapest. Then, at the age of 16, she and her younger sister were taken to Paris by their mother, where she won a place at the Ecole Des Beaux Arts.
Sher-Gil remained largely unreceptive to the more avant-garde side of modernism. As early works in this retrospective reveal, her influences were post-Impressionist. She adored Gauguin but it's clear that she didn't share his brilliance with colour or form. Sleep, an erotic nude of her sister, displays the rather bland elegance of Modigliani.
When she returned to India in the mid-1930s, her paintings became more interesting, combining modernism's flattened forms with Rajput miniatures and the sixth-century frescoes of Ajanta. She also developed a taste for Bruegelesque subjects, seen in one of the show's highlights: the wonderful Hungarian Market Scene, 1938.
Until Apr 22, Tate Modern, Bankside SE1, daily 10am to 6pm (Fri and Sat to 10pm), free. Tel: 020 7887 8888. www.tate.org.uk/modern Tube: Southwark/Blackfriars
Amrita Sher-Gil
Tate Modern
Bankside, Holland Street, SE1 9TG
