Women artists have been vanguards of shaping the narrative of contemporary arts in India. With their practices rooted in expressing the dilemmas and issues of the world surrounding them, these path-breaking women artists have created landmark works that sparked innovative trends and movements in the art world. Expressing their distinct sensibilities by experimenting with various mediums, women artists have consistently commanded critical acclaim for their work across the world. Here are the leading women artists who shaped the narrative of the art form in modern India and continues to inspire different generations of artists.
- Amrita Sher-Gil:
Known as ‘one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20th century,’ and a ‘pioneer in modern Indian art,’ Amrita Sher-Gil single-handedly put Indian art on a global platform. “I can only paint in India. Europe belongs to Picasso, Matisse, Braque India belongs only to me,” the artistic genius asserted famously and created a large body of work. Even after eight decades of her untimely death in 1941, she continues to be the crowning glory of numerous auctions and exhibitions representing Indian art. Born in Hungary in 1913, the artist started to draw at an early age. At the age of sixteen, Amrita joined the prestigious Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris. While in Paris, she painted several portraits and figure studies for which she used many of her friends as her subjects. Sher-Gil also created a large repository of self-portraits capturing herself in sometimes joyous and other times somber and pensive moods. Amrita Sher-Gil became an extremely poignant influence on the generation of artists that succeeded her, including the members of the famous Progressive Artists’ Group. Her depiction of females also inspired several women modernists of India. Her highly significant oeuvre was also declared as National Art Treasures.
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2. Meera Mukherjee:
An iconic female sculpture artist of India, Meera Mukherjee was exposed to the artistic influence of many great minds in her formative years. Arriving in Munich in 1953 on a scholarship, she got an opportunity to work under the tutelage of artists such as Heinrich Kirchner and Toni Stadler who encouraged her transition to sculpting. Her artistic journey was marked by the use of innovative bronze casting techniques. She was also instrumental in ameliorating the traditional Dhokra style sculpture by employing lost-wax casting which she learned during her stay among the artisans at Bastar region in central India. Her sculptures with organic shape and styling went on to become her signature essence evident across all her works. Her sculptures with organic shape and styling went on to become her signature essence evident across all her works. One of the works from the year 1981 titled ‘Dancing Baul,’ is an excellent work by Mukherjee depicting a minstrel in motion. A groundbreaking artist of her time, she was also conferred with several prestigious awards including the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1992.
3. Anjolie Ela Menon
One of the leading contemporary artists of India, Anjolie Ela Menon had her first solo exhibition when she was merely 18. Her early influences came from historic western artists such as Van Gogh and Modigliani. Among Indian artists, she was highly inspired by Amrita Sher-Gil and M. F. Husain. After her initial education at Sir J J School of Art in Bombay, she went on to study at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Art in Paris in 1959. During these years in Europe, she travelled across countries and explored Romanesque and Byzantine art. Anjolie Ela Menon is best known for her vibrantly coloured portraits, religious-themed works, and nudes. In her work titled ‘Pieta,’ Menon recreates the moment when Jesus was taken down from the cross but instead of Mother Mary, she shows him resting in Mother Teresa’s arms. Revisiting a theme that has been worked upon by artists over the centuries, she deftly captures the protagonists in her distinct figurative style.
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4. Anju Dodiya
With 20 solo shows in India and abroad to her credit, Anju Dodiya has emerged to be a distinguished woman contemporary artist of India. Born in Mumbai in 1964, she started her career with abstract paintings and then found her ultimate inspiration in an inspection of the self. Anju Dodiya’s works draw inspiration from various artistic legacies such as Japanese Ukiyo-e prints, poetry, miniature paintings, mediaeval Renaissance masters as well as European cinema. Renowned for her ‘fictional self-portraits,’ Dodiya creates works that are often autobiographical in nature. Rendered on different textures including mattresses which have come to be the artist’s leitmotif, her works give the viewer a glimpse into the life of the protagonist and reveal a process of self-discovery and introspection. She creates a mysterious visual narrative of her inner conflicts with the existential reality and her exasperation at the injustices in the world. One of her works titled ‘Cloud Hunter,’ is acrylic on mattress creation that borrows from the familiar Hindu myth of Shiva and Shakti which symbolises the spiritual union of female and male energy. Depicting a ‘Cloud Hunter,’ seeking this divinity, the works also draws inspiration from traditional Japanese iconography. An extremely important work by the artist, it has been a part of numerous exhibitions and publications.
5. Bharti Kher
Bharti Kher’s art practice spans over three decades where she has employed a myriad of mediums and materials that are truly unique. She has come to be most famous for her signature style works executed with the use of traditional Indian ‘Bindi’. Since appearing in her work in the year 1995 for the first time, ‘Bindi’ has experienced a subliminal transformation through her art practice. It has become a recurrent motif in her work, through which she connects to the world. One of these works titled “A Letter To My Love,’ is executed with board horizontal lines alternating between strips of shimmering bindis and black matte patches.
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Owing to the diversity of their art practices, the women artists have been highly recognised and acclaimed for their works. The works have been showcased in exhibitions at several prestigious museums and galleries across the world. They also continue to be some of the most sought after artists by seasoned collectors of modern Indian art.
