Amrita Sher-Gil and Hungarian literature Cover Image

Amrita Sher-Gil és a magyar irodalom
Amrita Sher-Gil and Hungarian literature

Author(s): Margit Köves
Subject(s): Poetry, Bibliography, Visual Arts, Hungarian Literature
Published by: Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem
Keywords: Amrita Sher-Gil; modern Indian painting; Hungarian literature; multiple identity; Endre Ady; poetic collage

Summary/Abstract: Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1942), who is considered to be the founder of modern Indian painting, spoke Hungarian and had many contacts with Hungarian literature and music. Her childhood diaries and letters published in 2010 in English display her Hungarian contacts and her multifaceted Indian-Hungarian-European identities. The study gives a brief insight into her early acquaintance with Hungarian fairy tales, ballads and novels. Sher-Gil called later Hungarian literature ‘her passion.’ The poetry of Ady was the most powerful influence on her painting, and the melancholy of Ady’s poems is reflected in some of her paintings, for example, Hill People, Hill Women or Group of Three Girls. Ady’s Hungarian-EuropeanEastern identities and their changing, multiple meanings was also important for Sher-Gil (Young Girls). In the final part of the paper, I present and interpret a hitherto unknown poem by Sher-Gil, a collage of Ady’s works.

  • Issue Year: X/2018
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 42-53
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Hungarian