Indira Sundaram (28 March 1914 - 1975) was the subject of several paintings completed by her sister,

Amrita Sher-Gil Amrita Sher-Gil (30 January 1913 – 5 December 1941) was a Hungarian–Indian painter. She has been called "one of the greatest avant-garde women artists of the early 20th century" and a pioneer in modern Indian art. Drawn to painting from an ...

, photographs by her father

Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Majithia (1870–1954) was an Indian aristocrat, scholar of Sanskrit and philosophy, and photographer. He was known as one of the pioneers of photography in India, leaving behind over 3,000 prints, including the hundreds of f ...

, and art works by her son

Vivan Sundaram Vivan Sundaram (28 May 1943 – 29 March 2023) was an Indian contemporary artist. He worked in many different media, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, installation, and video art, and his work was politically conscious an ...

.Sundaram, p. 720

Early life and education

Indira Sundaram (née Sher-Gil), affectionately known as Indu, was born on 28 March 1914 in a mansion located in the

Buda Hills The Buda Hills ( Hungarian: ''Budai-hegység'') are a low mountain range of numerous hills which dot the Buda side of Budapest, capital of Hungary. The most famous ones located within city limits are Gellért Hill, Castle Hill, Rózsadomb, , ...

of Hungary.Sundaram, p. xviDalmia, pp. 5-16 She was the daughter of the Indian aristrocat

and his Hungarian wife

Marie Antoinette Gottesman Marie Antoinette Gottesman (4 February 1881–1948) was a Hungarian socialite, opera singer, sister of Ervin Baktay, wife of Umrao Singh Sher-Gil and mother of the artist Amrita Sher-Gil Amrita Sher-Gil (30 January 1913 – 5 December 1941) ...

. The youngest of two siblings, her sister was

, who became a renowned painter and Indian national treasure. Sundaram moved to the Gottesman family mansion at

Dunaharaszti Dunaharaszti () is a town in Pest County, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It has a population of around 20,000 people. Twin towns – sister cities Dunaharaszti is twinned with: * Altdorf bei Nürnberg, Germany Sport *Dunaharaszti MTK, as ...

in September 1916.Sundaram, p. xxxiii She was baptized

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

on 17 November 1918. The family moved back to Budapest in June 1920, when they first stayed with Sundaram's aunt before moving to the

Margaret Island Margaret Island ( ; ) is a long island, wide, ( in area) in the middle of the Danube in central Budapest, Hungary. The island is mostly covered by landscape parks, and is a popular recreational area. Its medieval ruins are reminders of its impo ...

Grand Hotel on the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

and then to India in January 1921.Sundaram, p. xxxvii In 1929, during Sundaram's teens, the family moved to Paris, where they lived at first in

Passy Passy () is an area of Paris, France, located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, on the Rive Droite, Right Bank. It is adjacent to Auteuil, Paris, Auteuil to the southwest, and Chaillot to the northeast. It is home to many ...

and then the more fashionable 11 Rue de Bassano, Place des États-Unis.Dalmia, pp. 26-31 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, Sundaram married

Kalyan Sundaram Kalyan Vaidyanathan Kuttur Sundaram (11 May 1904 – 23 September 1992), also referred as K. V. K. Sundaram, was an Indian civil servant, who holds the record as the first Law Secretary (1948–58) of independent India and second Chief Election ...

, with whom she had two children, Vivan and .

Paintings and photographs

Sundaram features in several paintings completed by her sister and numerous photographs taken by her father. Some of these images have been combined into art work by her son Vivan.

''Young Girls''

Sundaram was one of two models depicted in Sher-Gil's 1932 painting ''

Young Girls "Young Girls" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars. It was composed by Mars, Philip Lawrence (songwriter), Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine, a songwriting and record production trio known as the Smeezingtons, as well as Jeff Bhasker, ...

''. In it she posed in an upright position, in equal conversation with a fair-haired woman.

''Sleep''

Sleep, also known as Indu's Nude or Nude of Indira, was completed in 1933. It portrays Sundaram 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. It nearly sold to Nawab Salar Jung and was later exhibited at Sher-Gil's solo show at

Faletti's Hotel Faletti's Hotel is a historical hotel in Lahore, Pakistan, which was opened in 1880 during the British Raj by an Italian, Giovanni Faletti. It was closed in the late 1990s for privatisation and re-opened in June 2013 after undergoing a major ref ...

in Lahore in 1937.Sundaram, pp. 522-523 It was also displayed at the Indian Academy of Fine Arts exhibition in Amritsar in 1940.Sundaram, pp. 684-685 Though Sher-Gil and politician

Diwan Chaman Lall Diwan Chaman Lall (30 October 1892 – 12 November 1973) was an Indian politician and diplomat who served as a Member of the Rajya Sabha. Early life Chaman Lall was born on 30 October 1892 to Dewan Bahadur Daulat Rai. He received an honors de ...

tried to sell the painting, it remained unsold and is now housed in the

National Gallery of Modern Art The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is the premier art gallery under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The main museum at Jaipur House in New Delhi was established on 29 March 1954 by the Government of India, with subsequent b ...

in New Delhi.

Gallery

File:Portrait of My Sister 1930.jpg, ''Portrait of My Sister'' (1930) File:Young Girls.jpg, ''

'' (1932) File:Painting Sleep 1932.jpg, ''

Sleep Sleep is a state of reduced mental and physical activity in which consciousness is altered and certain Sensory nervous system, sensory activity is inhibited. During sleep, there is a marked decrease in muscle activity and interactions with th ...

'' (1932)

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sundaram, Indira 1914 births 1975 deaths People from Budapest Indian people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Majithia family