Y.G. Srimati

The first retrospective exhibition of her work An Artist of Her Time : Y.G. Srimati and the Indian Style opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2016.

Being a trained classical dancer, a lot of her artwork was dedicated to the treatment of the physical form. Some of her more popular paintings comprise 'The Bullock Cart' and 'Parashurama'. She died in 2007 in her hometown Chennai, at the age of 81.

In 1963, she got a scholarship to the Art Students League of New York, where she met fellow artist, Michael Pellettieri. They later became partners and he even went to contribute some of the paintings made by her to Metropolitan Museum of Art after she died.

Her work was influenced by ragas, dance positions and mythological tales. When she was 26, she had her first exhibition, inaugurating the Centenary Hall Madras Museum in the year 1952.

"Ms. Srimati’s choreographic take on naturalism makes everyday subjects—a woman dressing, a family riding to market—look heroic, and images of deities and saints look approachable human. In the end, she’s a devotional artist, in the religious or spiritual sense: Her 1947-48 painting of the Hindu goddess Saraswati was originally displayed on her family’s home altar."

Y.G. Srimati (1926 - 2007) 20th century musician, dancer and painter born in Mysore, India. From a very young age, she was trained in Indian classical music, dance and painting . Y.G. Srimati became a highly accomplished vocalist and performer of Carnatic music and became a participant of the Indian Independence Movement from Chennai. She was deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and at rallies addressed by him she would perform devotional songs in various Indian languages. She dedicated her art work to nationalist themes, often painting figures from Hindu mythology, her style being influenced by Nandalal Bose of the Bengal School of Art and the frescoes of the Ellora and Ajanta Caves. Her talent was recognized in 1952 during her first solo exhibition at the Government Museum, Madras (now Chennai).

Born in 1926 in Mysore then in the Kingdom of Mysore. Srimati grew up in Madras (now Chennai) in a Tamil Brahmin family. Her older brother, Y.G. Doraisami, mentored her in classical dance, singing, instrumental music and painting. Her grandfather was the chief astrologer in the court of the Maharaja of Mysore. The family initials of 'Y.G.' was an honorific title granted by the Maharaja. Her grandfather died when her father was a year old and her family's land was seized. Her father was married off at the age of six and was disinherited. Following which he dedicated himself to the education of his children.