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- The self in making Part of Difficult Loves
Exhibitions
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The self in making
Part of Difficult Loves
31 January 2013 - 8 December 2013
Curated by Roobina Karode
KNMA, Saket, Delhi
In collaboration with Navina and Vivan Sundaram
'The self in making' examines Amrita Sher-Gil’s self-portraits that were grounded in her self-consciousness of growing up to be an artist and also positioning herself as a modern woman. Her nuanced persona could easily slip from a western outfit into a traditional brocaded sari or masquerade the bohemian and get into roles other than the domestic. She drew a series of self-portraits in pencil when she was barely fourteen, learning the skills to transcribe, transform and transmit varied moods and moments through it.
In art historian Rakhee Balaram’s words, “The self-portraits display the artist moving from girl to woman to artist as she explored a sensuality that ranges from the heavy-handed to the subtle. Sher-Gil casts herself in a serious light in her Self-Portrait with Easel (1930), moving deliberately from the domestic and the intimate context of the nineteenth-century woman artist to the monumental and majestic poses recalling those of Rembrandt and later Van Gogh.”
Balaram further adds, “At stake was not only a serious and viable artistic career as a woman, but the development of a subjectivity that was being defined through the self-portrait. Conscious of being both muse and maker, Sher-Gil took on the position of artist and object with a double consciousness of being both.”
The glittering life of Sher-Gil and the reality of her untimely death at the age of 28, could lead one to seek her biography in her self-portraits.
Other Exhibitions
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visions of interiority: interrogating the male body - A RETROSPECTIVE (1963-2013)
14 October 2014 - 1 March 2015
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You can’t Keep Acid in a Paper Bag - A RETROSPECTIVE (1969 - 2014) in three chapters
26 September 2014 - 21 December 2014
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A view to infinity - A Retrospective (1937-1990) Part of Difficult Loves
31 January 2013 - 8 December 2013
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the dark loam: between memory and membrane - A RETROSPECTIVE (1930-2016)
24 August 2016 - 20 December 2016
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The euphoria of being Himmat Shah A continuing journey across six decades
30 October 2017 - 15 December 2017
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VIVAN SUNDARAM, A RETROSPECTIVE: FIFTY YEARS STEP INSIDE AND YOU ARE NO LONGER A STRANGER
9 February 2018 - 20 July 2018
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Envisioning Asia, Gandhi and Mao in the photographs of Walter Bosshard
1 October 2018 - 31 October 2018
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Kiran Nadar Museum of Art presents इस घट अंतर बाग-बगीचे | Haku Shah 1934-2019 Within this earthen vessel are bowers and groves
10 December 2019 - 8 January 2020
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Right to laziness... no, strike that! Sidewalking with the man saying sorry
30 January 2020 - 10 April 2021
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Line, beats and shadows – Ayesha Sultana, Prabhavathi Meppayil, Lala Rukh and Sumakshi Singh
30 January 2020 - 10 April 2021
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Delhi Modern: The Architecture of Independent India seen through the eyes of Madan Mahatta
13 February 2020 - 28 February 2020
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Around The Table : Conversations about Milestones, Memories, Mappings
5 November 2022 - 22 December 2022
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Prussian Blue: A Serendipitous Colour that Altered the Trajectory of Art
19 September 2023 - 20 December 2023