Women at Work: Amrita Sher-Gil’s Painting, The Story Teller
This week in Daak:
1. Women at Work: Amrita Sher-Gil’s Painting, The Story Teller
2. Women of Amrita Sher-Gil - Coaster Set
3. Daak Recommends
1. Women at Work: Amrita Sher-Gil’s Painting, The Story Teller
Amidst the romantic, idealized, and hyper-sexualized portrayals of women in art, Amrita Sher-Gil’s representations of working-class women stands out as a reminder that art has the power to show us the ordinary in a new light. Sher-Gil’s interest in the lives of working-class and rural communities, especially women, resulted in the creation of beautiful paintings that celebrate and elevate their daily routines and rituals. She drew them faithfully without condescension or judgment, rendering them with an empathetic eye.
Painted shortly after her return from Europe, the Story Teller represents an important milestone in Sher-Gil’s career: the creation of a unique artistic style which blended Western and Eastern artistic traditions, capturing women’s rich but often invisible social lives. It was also one of her few works painted en plein air, a French expression meaning “in the open air”, referring to the act of painting outdoors with the artist's subject in full view.
The focus of this painting is a group of village women in an open courtyard occupied with various tasks. One of the women is sitting on a charpai telling a story to the other women surrounding her. Not to be missed is a man looking over them from behind a doorway who does not necessarily seem to interest the women, an interesting commentary on the irrelevance of the male gaze. Sher-Gil was particularly fond of this painting. In a letter, she called it "lovely as colour" and the process of painting the cows “very soothing”. In fact, this was her first painting depicting animals, which later became a recurring theme in her works.
2. Women of Amrita Sher-Gil - Coaster Set
Sometimes soft and melancholic, and sometimes unabashedly vivacious, the women of Amrita Sher-Gil have captivated generations of art enthusiasts. Check out our coaster set with 4 of Sher-Gil’s most stunning women.
3. Daak Recommends
Complement today’s read with another Daak on Amrita Sher-Gil’s defiant letters and paintings.
Watch this fascinating short documentary on Sher-Gil’s life featuring archival photos, journal entries, letters, and family stories.