Name - Dibyoshree Sarka

Semester - V
Dept- Graphic
I

Comparison and Discussion of the Works of Indian Contemporary Artists : Amrita

Sher Gil and Jamini Ro
The artworks discussed in the following sections are : ‘Three girls’ by Amrita sher Gil and ‘Three
Pujarins’ by Jamini Roy. Both paintings feature three Women but with wildly different styles and
context behind them

Amrita Sher Gil grew up in Budapest and

Jamini Roy was born in Kolkata and Studied
studied art at Academie de la Grande
at the Government College of Art. He was the
Chaumiere at Paris, and later at Ecole des
direct Pupil of Arabindranath Tagore. He was
1 Beaux Arts, She was trained in the classical
trained in classical oil paintings, but gravitated
western style of painting, but then adopted a
towards Kalighat ‘Pat’ paintings, and adopted
more modern at style (similar to French
a similar style himself.
post-impressionist, Gauguin)

Most of Roy’s paintings were not dated, and

The painting ‘Three Girls’ features the more
2 modern style. It was the rst painting done
after Amrita Sher Gil’s return to India.
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he produced over 20,000 paintings in his
lifetime. ‘Three pujarins’ is one of them,
painted in his characteristic at, graphical
style.

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Three Indian women are seated in the
foreground, in a triangular arrangement.
While the background is mostly empty and
painted with muted colours.
The vibrant out ts of the ladies contrast with
their sullen faces and the dull
background.The tones and planes of the
3 faces are skilfully used to show the
underlying mood of the characters through
body language and facial expression.
The bodies and fabrics are more at. The
brush strokes are varied: Areas of
Importance (the faces) are rendered more
precisely than the background where the
brushwork is quick and choppy.
Sher Gil focused on depicting the bleak
reality of the lives of Indian women in the
1930s. Her other works feature women
going to markets, at weddings and at home
In most other artists’ works, women are
shown to be happy and obedient, whereas
4 in the ‘Three Girls’, the women have
expressions of hopelessness. At the
threshold of adulthood and marriage, they
are facing a destiny they cannot control.
This unique portrayal of dystopian femininity
lead to her being regarded as the Indian
Frieda Kahlo.
Sher Gil’s paintings were intensely personal
in nature. There is a lot of self re ection and
5 self expression going on. The moods of the
women in her paintings re ected much of
her own.
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Three Pujarins or Priestesses are shown, one
holding a tray with items used for worship.
The other two placed in a somewhat crowded
way, right behind her, their heads forming a
straight line. They take up all the space in the
image and there is no background
The upper third of the image is where most of
the details and information is located.
The line-work is thick and con dent. The
ladies are rendered with simple circular or
angular shapes, so that the painting reads
clearly from a distance
The depth in the painting is made clear only
due to the overlap of the foreground character
with the background characters, There is no
perspective, linear or atmospheric.
Roy focused on developing a style that is
inherently Indian and that appealed to the
general middle class person, rather than art-
connoisseurs
In the ‘Three Pujarins’ The Sari worn by the
women is in the Bengali style (draped in front)
and the sari is indigo (hinting at the plight of
the indigo farmers at the time in Bengal) So
both these elements were added so that the
general Bengali population could relate to this
painting.
Roy’s paintings were more sel ess in nature.
He wanted to pay homage to his Bengali
roots by adopting and appreciating the
Kalighat “Pat” paintings and making it his
own.
At the same time he wanted to create
something for the average Bengali person to
relate to and enjoy without having to belong to
any elite class who had access to art
education.