{{Short description|Subject of portraits & photographs (1914–1975)}} {{Infobox person | name = Indira Sundaram | image = Portrait of Sister 1936.jpg | alt = | caption = ''Indira Sundaram'' by Amrita Sher-Gil, 1936 | birth_name = | birth_date = 28 March 1914 | birth_place = Buda Hills, Hungary | death_date = 1975 | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = Feature of portraits by Amrita Sher-Gil, photographs by Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, art works by Vivan Sundaram | notable_works = | spouse = Kalyan Sundaram | children = {{ubl|Vivan Sundaram|Navina Sundaram}} | mother = Marie Antoinette Gottesman | father = Umrao Singh Sher-Gil }} '''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.<ref name=Sundaram.2010.720>Sundaram, p. 720</ref>
==Early life and education== thumb|left|Sunderam with her sister Amrita, 1922 Indira Sher-Gil, affectionately known as Indu, was born on 28 March 1914 in a mansion located in the Buda Hills of Hungary.<ref name=Sundaram.2010.xvi>Sundaram, p. xvi</ref><ref name=Dalmia.2013.5>Dalmia, pp. 5-16</ref> She was the daughter of the Indian aristrocat Umrao Singh Sher-Gil and his Hungarian wife Marie Antoinette Gottesman.<ref name=Dalmia.2013.5/> The youngest of two siblings, her sister was Amrita Sher-Gil, who became a renowned painter and Indian national treasure.<ref name=Dalmia.2013.5/> Indira moved to the Gottesman family mansion at Dunaharaszti in September 1916.<ref name=Sundaram.2010.xxxiii>Sundaram, p. xxxiii</ref><ref name=Parichha2021>{{cite book |last1=Parichha |first1=Bhaskar |title=Unbiased Writings on India |date=2021 |publisher=Blue Hill Publications |isbn=978-93-90788-59-0 |page=223 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0wdGEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA223 |language=en}}</ref> She was baptized Roman Catholic on 17 November 1918.<ref name=Dalmia.2013.5/> The family moved back to Budapest in June 1920, when they first stayed with Indira's aunt before moving to the Margaret Island Grand Hotel on the Danube and then to India in January 1921.<ref name=Sundaram.2010.xxxvii>Sundaram, p. xxxvii</ref>
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.<ref name=Dalmia.2013.3>Dalmia, pp. 26-31</ref> There she was accepted into the Alfred Cortot School of Music, where she trained in piano.<ref name=SGSF>{{cite web |title=Sher-Gil Sundaram Arts Foundation {{!}} Sher-Gil Sundaram Family |url=https://ssaf.in/sher-gil-sundaram-family/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250406053754/https://ssaf.in/sher-gil-sundaram-family/ |archive-date=6 April 2025 |access-date=5 April 2025}}</ref>
==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 {{interlanguage link|Navina Sundaram|de}}.<ref name=Sundaram.2010.xvi/><ref name=SGSF/>
==Paintings and photographs== Indira features in several paintings completed by her sister and numerous photographs taken by her father.<ref name=Throckmorton2015>{{cite book |last1=Throckmorton |first1=Jodi |last2=Gupta |first2=Atreyee |last3=Gupta |first3=Latika |last4=Collective |first4=Raqs Media |last5=Krane |first5=Susan |title=Postdate: Photography and Inherited History in India |date=2015 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-28569-9 |page=119 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WXolDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA119|chapter=Vivan Sunderam |language=en}}</ref> Some of these images have been combined into art work by her son Vivan.<ref name=Throckmorton2015/>
===''Young Girls''=== {{main article|Young Girls (painting)}} Indira was one of two models depicted in Sher-Gil's 1932 painting ''Young Girls''.<ref name=Dalmia.2013.3/> In it she posed in an upright position, in equal conversation with a fair-haired woman.<ref name=Dalmia.2013.3/>
===''Sleep''=== {{main article|Sleep (Sher-Gil)}}
Sleep, also known as Indu's Nude or Nude of Indira, was completed in 1933. It portrays Indira lying nude on a white sheet, viewed from above, with one arm raised. A shawl featuring a dragon lies beneath her, its shape echoing the curves of her body and hair.<ref name=Ananth2007>{{Cite book |last=Ananth |first=Deepak |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vd7qAAAAMAAJ |title=Amrita Sher-Gil: An Indian Artist Family of the Twentieth Century |date=2007 |publisher=Schirmer/Mosel |isbn=978-3-8295-0270-2 |pages=18 |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Sundaram2010.522>Sundaram, pp. 522-523</ref> It was also displayed at the Indian Academy of Fine Arts exhibition in Amritsar in 1940.<ref name=Sundaram2010.684>Sundaram, pp. 684-685</ref> 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.<ref name=Sundaram2010.522/>
===Gallery=== <gallery> File:Portrait of My Sister 1930.jpg|''Portrait of My Sister'' (1930) File:Young Girls.jpg|''Young Girls'' (1932) File:Painting Sleep 1932.jpg|''Sleep'' (1932) </gallery>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{Cite book |last=Dalmia|first=Yashodhara |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mj3mlgEACAAJ |title=Amrita Sher-Gil: A Life |date=2013 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Gurugram |isbn=978-0-14-342026-2 |language=en}} * {{cite book |last1=Sundaram |first1=Vivan |title=Amrita Sher-Gil: A Self-Portrait in Letters and Writings |date=2010 |publisher=Tulika Books |location=New Delhi |volume=1|pages=1–417|isbn=978-81-89487-59-1}} * {{cite book |last1=Sundaram |first1=Vivan |title=Amrita Sher-Gil: A Self-Portrait in Letters and Writings |date=2010 |publisher=Tulika Books |location=New Delhi |volume=2|pages=418–821|isbn=978-81-89487-59-1}}
{{Amrita Sher-Gil|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sundaram, Indira}}
Category:1914 births Category:1975 deaths Category:People from Budapest Category:Indian people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Category:Majithia family