The Parsi Girl

Pestonji Bomanji (1851-1938) joined the Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay, at thirteen and trained under principal John Griffiths. After serving as a draughtsman copying the Ajanta murals and a brief apprenticeship with Valentine Prinsep in 1877, he became one of the first Indian teachers at the School and later its first Indian vice-principal. The Times of India called his portraits "realistic and warty"; compared to the Dutch realists and dubbed him "India's Rembrandt" for the unflattering realism of his portraiture. In his life, he has worked largely within his own community, producing an ethnographic record of Parsi life. Many curators have argued that Bomanji is a foundational presence who deserves to stand beside Raja Ravi Varma in the history of modern Indian art. The subject, believed to be the artist's own daughter, is a young girl in a traditional Parsi sari of purple and yellow, bangles on her wrists and leather slippers on her feet, standing on a blue studio floor. She points to a doodle she has scribbled over one of her father's paintings, a curtained canvas showing what may be a palm-leaf manuscript writer, and holds a paintbrush; a ribbon trails to a toy cart at her feet. Her mischievous eyes and smile convey childish delight at contributing her creativity to an adult artwork. The canvas exemplifies Bomanji's hyper-realist handling: a meticulous study of richly embroidered Parsi attire rendered with academic naturalism. Light is sparse; "the little there is, in colour and shade, promises optimism and a certain defiance". The painting-within-a-painting is a personal reflection on the artist's profession. This intimate scene doubles as a document of 19th-century Parsi costume and childhood. First shown at the Bombay Art Society, the work is held by the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai, and was exhibited in No Parsi is an Island at the NGMA Mumbai (2014) and NGMA Delhi (2016).