Introduction
Feminism evolved to become the most potent force for progress. It was a way of preserving women’s dignity and strength, as well as their sociocultural and personal experiences. Ideas of feminism emerged throughout history, transforming from a movement for voting rights into a movement about women’s freedom and social significance. Feminist narratives can be found in all cultural branches, especially noticeable through painting and literature. Frida Kahlo and Amrita Sher-Gill represent feminism in the image and iconic figures (Beni’s art point). They made a significant contribution to the thought of women’s freedom and reflected their will and power in self-portraits. Frida and Amrita are similar in their feminist idea of the importance of women, but for differences in the way, they present her to society.
Research Hypothesis: Amrita Sher-Gil’s feminism is more about the emancipation and freedom of Indian women, while Frida Kahlo’s feminism is more about individualism and women as individuals.
Life History
Frida Kahlo’s fate: Trauma and motherhood
Frida Kahlo was a great Mexican artist who became a feminist icon through her intense life story and radical view of a woman’s lot. Her life was filled with difficult moments: childhood was filled with illness and terrible accidents, adolescence with the realization of the impossibility of having children, and her adult years with spinal pain and corsets (Inahara). Frida demonstrated each event; it helped her love life. Like all great artists, her life was accompanied by darkness, and painting was a way of escaping reality.
A brutal fate, full of tragedy and love, was vividly reflected in the distinctive and frank paintings of Frida Kahlo. Initially, Frida wanted to become a doctor, so she enrolled in the preparatory school. But at the age of 18, life changed forever: the bus in which Frida was riding collided with a streetcar. Her father bought everything for drawing and even built a unique device to make it comfortable to paint lying down. Frida’s first painting was a sketch called Accident; she marked herself as a woman.
The turning point was Frida’s acquaintance with Diego Rivera, who appreciated her talents. He already had two marriages, which fell apart because of his many adulteries; the third marriage was the same. Nevertheless, Frida tried several times to have a child with her beloved Diego (Inahara). Unfortunately, all pregnancies ended tragically because of the injuries sustained in the accident. Frida poured out her inner feelings: the expressive painting Henry Ford’s Hospital.
Amrita Sher-Gil: Struggle and will
Amrita Sher-Gil is a feminist in a different category who has given the world paintings of female strength, beauty, and sexuality. Her name is on the list of the Nine Masters whose work has been declared a national cultural treasure. Amrita’s life was filled with challenging and mentally exhausting moves, reflected in her art. The influence of the Western school is visible in her early works. Hungarian motifs are also present. In 1932 she completed her first significant work, Young Girls, in which she depicted her sister Indira with her friend. Due to this and one other piece, she was accepted by the Paris Grand Salon and became the only representative of Asia, and the youngest, to receive this honor.
By 1934 she was haunted by an unrelenting and persistent desire to return to her homeland. Amrita felt that her path as an artist lay in India. She began to rediscover the traditions of Indian art, a process that continued throughout her life. At the insistence of the critic and art collector Karl Khandalawal in 1936, Sher-Gil set out on a journey across the country searching for her roots. She was most impressed by the Mughal and Pahari schools and the Ajanta Women of the Tribe cave paintings, 1938. In 1937, while traveling in South India, she created her famous trilogy: Bride’s Toilet, Brahmachari, and Peasants of South India. They reflect her vision of Indian realities – poverty and despair are often the central motifs of her paintings. She has now finally found her artistic mission, reflecting the life of her people in the picture.
Sher-Gil’s stay in India was a new stage in her development: she could freely create paintings that reflected her inner world and perception of the outside world. She enlisted the support of her husband Victor Egan, who understood and shared her plight as a woman: some believe that he helped Sher-Gil have an abortion. Most likely, her husband influenced her perception of femininity and will: she saw how people could magnify women, so she made it her goal to create similar canvases (Sheikh). Because of this, her history with feminism is quite different from that of Frida. Sher-Gil did not seek to carry her share of women, marriage or motherhood, but a social one: the canvases depict women’s labor in the villages, women’s sexuality, and their greatness.
Feminism of Frida
Frida spent a long time examining herself in the mirror and analyzing her own physical and mental suffering. It is how the painting Self-Portrait with Monkey appeared, a canvas with a young woman and a monkey peeking out from behind her shoulder. It is a ceremonial painting, as Frida painted herself in bright clothes decorated with gold trim. The expression of the woman’s face is austere and solemn, her gaze is directed to the viewer, but it is also required inside her. Her luxurious black hair is arranged in a fanciful hairstyle adorned with a bright red ribbon that wraps around Frida’s neck like a talisman and links her with the monkey. The ribbon symbolized the connection between them and the mistress, tying them together and emphasizing the loneliness. The canvas was painted in 1940, immediately after her divorce from Rivera. In this way, Frida was trying to show that she remains a strong and majestic woman despite her suffering.
The pain with which Frida Kahlo had to share her own body all her life seems to be displayed in The Broken Column to the highest degree. It contrasts to most self-portraits: there are no flowers in her tall hair, no riot of vegetation in the background, no monkeys and parrots adored by the artist. Only standing in the middle of the bare desert under a stormy sky, almost naked, vulnerable, and the figure is the embodiment of loneliness and pain, the burden of which has become unbearable for one fragile person. The artist has hidden a secret message of hope in her: there is a tiny white dove in her pupils. Frida demonstrates a woman’s pain and burden: the weight of experience determines fate, and there is hope for the best no matter how difficult. The Broken Column is a self-portrait of all the desperate women waiting for support.
Feminism of Amrita
Amrita’s portrayal of the female portion was different from Frida’s. Both in Paris and India, her paintings mostly depict the human form, especially the female form, including depictions of her through numerous self-portraits. Amrita also wrote letters to everyone who mattered in her life (Sheikh). These letters have been compiled into a book and are a rich repository of her motives, moods, and inner concerns and shed some light on the nature of her relationships. Amrita seems to interact with life and people in a stormy, bold, impulsive, independent, intense, and often very thoughtful way.
Among Sher-Gil’s famous self-portraits is a bold and striking painting with the discreet title “Self-portrait (7)”. The painting depicts herself, with a smile on her lips and an unusual necklace around her neck. Her hands are crowned with bracelets, and her clothing is kept with Indian tradition. Thick black hair and dark eyes are two features of the Indian woman. She seems to be looking at the viewer, but it is clear that she is looking somewhere in the distance upon prolonged examination. Amrita has painted herself on the canvas, a confident and courageous woman who demonstrates beauty and majesty.
The self-portrait is inspired by the feminist movement because, in 1930, Amrita began to shift from Western to Indian ideas. The artist painted herself as an Indian to demonstrate the need for women’s communes in India to be empowered as they already were in the West at the time (Beni’s art point). The canvas also shifts from modern European techniques to traditional ones: bright and flashy, painting soft canvases without tension. Self-Portrait 7 is Amrita’s first challenge to contemporary society, in which Indian women are revealed as majestic women.
Another vital painting by Amrita is Self-Portrait as a Tahitian, which pays tribute to tradition. The painting was painted in 1934, and it already shows how much Sher-Gil’s art has changed: her body is no longer painted according to Western canons (Sheikh). Instead, the woman painted has many features with Indian notions of beauty: bare breasts and arms, bright lips, and legs wrapped in colorful fabrics. Amrita portrayed herself in an objective look that is not embellished by gendered male notions of beauty: this can be seen in the colors and techniques she used.
In the painting, Amrita kept her sexuality and emphasized her natural origins – this is how she showed the development of her feminist views. Instead of patriarchal constructions, she resorts to the sexuality presented by nature: the red lips and exposed breasts emphasize the artist’s sexual desires but do not make the viewer lust for them (Kapur). The ambiguous shadows behind Amrita’s back show that women can stand ahead of men and be just as majestic: besides, women’s beauty overshadows men’s and casts shadows over them. A woman’s focused gaze expresses confidence and fortitude, not wanting to draw the viewer to her body. Amrita again defies society and transcends boundaries, showing that only a woman can truly see another woman and her beauty.
Feminism in India
The feminist movement began to develop in India along with the nationalist idea. The superiority of Indian culture led to a revival of Indian womanhood, which Amrita Sher-Gil praised. She admired Gandhi and often mentioned him in family conversations, agreeing with his ideas. Because of this, her paintings became a symbol of the nationalist advancement of Indian women. Created associations of women became her paintings’ subjects, and Amrita always portrayed herself side by side, demonstrating her agreement with the national idea.
Conclusion
Feminism is a strong force for progress because it considers all people’s voices and emphasizes the importance of women. It has emerged in different directions, one of which is artistic works of Amrita Sher-Gil and Frida Kahlo. Frida’s feminism was expressed in her struggles and her experience of an unhappy woman: she raised the themes of identity, suffering, and motherhood. Amrita’s feminism was different: she promoted a national idea of the superiority of women and their greatness to be honored.
Works Cited
Kapur, Greeta. Essays on Contemporary Cultural Practice in India. Tulika Books, 2000.
Beni’s art point. n.d. “Frida Kahlo and Amrita Sher-Gil- Two Peas in a Pod.” My art point, Web.
Sheikh, Nilima. “On Amrita Sher-Gil: Claiming a Radiant Legacy.” Expressions and Evocations: Contemporary Women Artists of India, Marg Publications, 1996.
Inahara, Minae. “The Art of Pain and Intersubjectivity in Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portraits.” Encountering Pain: Hearing, Seeing, Speaking, edited by Deborah Padfield and Joanna M. Zakrzewska, UCL Press, 2021, pp. 219–229.