| The Story Teller | |
|---|---|
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| Artist | Amrita Sher-Gil |
| Year | 1937 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 59 cm (23 in); 79 cm diameter (31 in) |
The Story Teller is a 1937 oil painting on canvas by Hungarian-born Indian artist Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941). In September 2023 it set a record as the highest-priced Indian artwork sold at auction globally. Blending elements of both Pahari and Parisian influences, the painting depicts a group of village women occupied by ordinary tasks such as chewing betel nut and waving a fan, unconcerned about their surroundings, while a baby cow is seen nosing its way among them. A woman is seated on a traditional bed, engaged in storytelling with the women seated on the floor. Set in an open courtyard, a man stands at the periphery looking across at them.
Between 1935 and 1941, Sher-Gil painted mainly in India. Following her 1937 tour of South India she produced a more classical art style with her South Indian trilogy of paintings Bride's Toilet, Brahmacharis, and South Indian Villagers Going to Market. It made her popular, though she felt her work was largely misunderstood. Criticised for portraying a dark side of India, she was simultaneously praised for bringing to the forefront the issue of women and poverty. The trilogy had tired her out and her next set of paintings would be smaller, including The Story Teller, considered by Sher-Gil herself to be one of her 12 most significant pieces.
The painting was first displayed in the successful solo exhibition in November 1937 at Faletti's Hotel in Lahore, British India. There, one art critic described her work as simple and modern. It was bought by Badruddin Tyabji. Art historian and critic Deepak Ananth felt that Sher-Gil was "opting for a less grandiose, more relaxed attitude to her Indian subjects".[1] He described the women "not as tragic figures, but as individuals who possessed awareness of their fate and the ability to rise above it".[1]