Indira Sundaram

Indira Sundaram (née Sher-Gil; 28 March 1914 - 1975) was the subject of several paintings completed by her sister, Amrita Sher-Gil, photographs by her father Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, and art works by her son Vivan Sundaram.

Early life and education

Indira Sher-Gil, affectionately known as Indu, was born on 28 March 1914 in a mansion located in the Buda Hills of Hungary. She was the daughter of the Indian aristrocat Umrao Singh Sher-Gil and his Hungarian wife Marie Antoinette Gottesman. She was baptized Roman Catholic on 17 November 1918.

In 1929, during Indira's teens, the family moved to Paris, where they lived at first in Passy and then the more fashionable 11 Rue de Bassano, Place des États-Unis. There she was accepted into the Alfred Cortot School of Music, where she trained in piano.

Personal and family In October 1937, shortly before Amrita's solo exhibition at Lahore, Indira married Kalyan Sundaram, with whom she had two children, Vivan and . Some of these images have been combined into art work by her son Vivan. It nearly sold to Nawab Salar Jung and was later exhibited at Sher-Gil's solo show at Faletti's Hotel in Lahore in 1937. It was also displayed at the Indian Academy of Fine Arts exhibition in Amritsar in 1940. Though Sher-Gil and politician Diwan Chaman Lall tried to sell the painting, it remained unsold and is now housed in the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.

Gallery