Self-Portrait as a Tahitian

Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941) was born in Hungary to an Indian aristocrat and his Hungarian Jewish wife, an opera singer. After the First World War, the family moved to Shimla, India. There, she was influenced by her uncle, Ervin Baktay, who encouraged her to carefully observe the reality around her and transfer it to her work, particularly using live models. Her mentors included Pierre Henri Vaillant and Lucien Simon. ==Origin and composition==

's Faa Iheihe (1898) Sher-Gil created Self-Portrait as a Tahitian in oil on canvas in early 1934, while she was studying at the Beaux-Arts de Paris. The previous year she had visited the Tate Gallery in London, where she saw Paul Gauguin's Faa Iheihe (1898). In January 1934, Sher-Gil told her parents that she took a "Chinese picture away to the atelier", hoping "to paint a picture in which it will play a large role". Her nephew, Vivan Sundaram, in his study of her letters, took this note to refer to Self-Portrait as a Tahitian. A plain white cloth is wrapped around her lower body, leaving her slightly protruding abdomen, full body and breasts, and crossed long arms naked. Her body is varying shades of brown, and her long straight black hair is casually tied back. A deep red is used to colour the slightly smirked lips. Her posture is turned a little so that she is looking away from the viewer. ==Exhibition==

In 1934 the work was exhibited at the Salon des Tuileries, Paris. Sher-Gil wrote "they will go well together, a good contrast: with one in blues and yellows (it's a nude you do not know, I started it after you left), and the other in harmony of pink and white." Proutaux later recalled that Sher-Gil wore a sari to the exhibition, "a rare spectacle in the streets of Paris". It was so successful that Sher-Gil and other participating artists had to take refuge in a cafe. ==Influences==

'' by Paula Modersohn-Becker (1906) The painting has been seen as Sher-Gil's response to seeing Faa Iheihe, and hence a tribute to Gauguin, with a combination of east and west, and where Sher-Gil sees herself as "the exotic other". Sher-Gil was also influenced by how Van Gogh presented Japonisme. Like Paula Modersohn-Becker's Self-Portrait at 6th Wedding Anniversary, Self-Portrait As a Tahitian depicts a woman with early signs of pregnancy through her slightly rounded abdomen and full breasts. Sher-Gil had also been pregnant, and been through two terminations. The painting by Modersohn-Becker was likely familiar to her. ==Interpretation==

Art critics W. G. Archer and Karl J. Khandalavala saw Sher-Gil as obsessed with Gauguin to the extent that it partly "haunted her". However, in contrast to Sher-Gil's portrayal of herself as a Tahitian, Gauguin's Tahitians are more elaborately dressed, are decorated with flowers, and typically appear as seductive women on a tropical landscape. Saloni Mathur, professor of Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art, gives an alternative take. Bhushan and Christine Haupt call the "mystifying male shadow" a "voyeur". She notes that the Indian art critic Geeta Kapur connects Sher-Gil with the artist Frida Kahlo; both representing "women in and through the experience of otherness", and therefore giving an alternative take of the traditional nude. In Sonal Khullar's view the painting "theatricalizes the relationship of French masters to the Orient" and "combines and confuses areas of the world: Oceania, the Orient, and the Occident". Pradeep A. Dhillon considers it of "eternal significance". ==Legacy==

The painting appears on the front cover of Sundaram's study of Sher-Gil titled Amrita Sher-Gil; a self-portrait in letters & writings (2010). As such, it must remain in India and may only leave the country with permission from the Indian Central Government. ==See also==