Kahlo, Sher-Gil, Stern: Modernist Identities in the Global South
The Diplomacy of Art by Dilon Bhana
11 January 2023
As a young, South African art enthusiast, I had the pleasure of visiting the Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation (JCAF). They are currently hosting the exhibition ‘Kahlo, Sher-Gil, Stern: Modernists Identities in the Global South’ which is running from 25 October 2022 until 23 February 2023. The exhibition showcases three artists from three distinct parts of the globe, each with their own triumphs and controversies and all with so much in common. These three artists have inspired me in my life before and I was surprised to discover them in a joint gallery experience where I further found their art and lives impacting mine 100 years after their creations.
JCAF is an academic research institute which uses technological innovations to create an experience different from that of a conventional art gallery. The Frida Kahlo (Mexico), Amrita Sher-Gil (India) and Irma Stern (South Africa and Congo) exhibition shows that all three artists were born into middle-class families and each with Jewish lineage living during or around the time of World War II, which lent relevance to their artistic expressions.
During the guided tour we were presented with the trajectory and events of the lives of the artists and how this showed through in their works. Kahlo, a Mexican artist who was involved in a devastating accident involving a tram, and later experienced tragedies in her marriage and life, so beautifully portrayed this in her work. A quote from Kahlo reads, “They thought I was a surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.” Frida Kahlo is the only one of the three who did not receive a formal education in art, but astonishingly, is arguably the biggest name of the three. Her painting “Self Portrait with Hummingbird and Thorn Necklace” is exhibited.
Amrita Sher-Gil, as I have seen, is sometimes referred to as the Indian Frida Kahlo. She was born in Hungary to an Indian aristocrat father, studied art in Paris, but later stayed in India and explored her Indian roots through her art. There is a very visible shift in her art style from the Western style which she learned through her education and the Indian style which she studied and drew inspiration from when she visited the Ajanta Caves. Sher-Gil’s painting, “Three Girls”, a painting of her nieces in India and involves her interpretation of the Indian caste system, is exhibited.
Irma Stern was born in South Africa, and had moved to and lived in different places due to family and political circumstances, but eventually returned to and settled in South Africa. At one point she found herself in Congo where she adapted her subject matter to her environment often finding inspiration for her portraits in the people around her. Her painting depicting a Congolese princess, “Watussi Woman in Red”, is exhibited.
My personal experience with the three artists involves something of a coincidence. As a matric art student in 2020, I decided to do the research part of my portfolio on these three artists in coherence with my theme which centred around identity and portraiture. I had matched these three artists together for the themes they explored in relation to my own experiences with identity and was in awe to find this exhibition showcasing their commonalities with each other.
JCAF put together a must-see exhibition of three inspiring and controversial artists.