Armina Peerbhoy

Sunita Devi (c. 1897 – 3 November 1932), real name Armina Peerbhoy, generally known just as Sunita, was a model for the sculptor Jacob Epstein in London. Her death in India on 3 November 1932 was believed by some to be a political assassination.

Early life Originally from Kashmir, Sunita was a Muslim who married Ahmed Peerbhoy, a millionaire of Bombay, but some time in the early 1920s went to England with her son Enver and younger sister Anita Patel, who had also left her husband. The sisters joined a troupe of magicians known as the Maysculine Brothers. Sunita performed a stunt that involved sitting in a tank of water fully submerged for five minutes (with the aid of a transparent air hose). and The Black Sari, Sunita Wearing a Black Sari.

Jacob Epstein Jacob Epstein may have met Sunita at the British Empire Exhibition, where the exotic foreign displays intrigued him, or possibly through his friend Matthew Smith. In 1925 Epstein invited Sunita, Enver and Anita to live at his home at Guilford Street in London with the agreement of his wife Margaret. Mrs Epstein was trying to end her husband's affair with Kathleen Garman by encouraging him into affairs with other women. Dolores, who Mrs Epstein had hoped in vain would tempt her husband away from Kathleen, had recently left the house and now there were two new women that might do the job. In addition to the sculpture, there were over 100 drawings and watercolours of Sunita, Enver, and Anita.