A Photographer’s Muse: The Other Life of Amrita Sher-Gil

In this article, I examine the role of the photograph in the life of the well-known painter, Amrita Sher-Gil. As, from an early age, she was the photographer’s willing muse, an analysis of a selection of images helps in the construction of another narrative, one that is distinct from her art, and might even be contrary to the aura that surrounds artists of her calibre. I look at cameos of her brief, yet complex life as seen by her photographer-father Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, and then by the artist Barada Ukil and art critic Karl Khandalavala. Using relevant extracts of correspondence that have been published, I show how Amrita was deeply interested in how the camera represented her. Several decades later, in Re-take of Amrita , her nephew, artist Vivan Sundaram created a series of perceptive photomontages based on a refashioning of a selection of photographs by Sher-Gil and Ukil. Some of these dynamic images too, constructed speculative narratives around a brief yet brilliant life.