Alice Boner

1. In 1926, Alice Boner witnessed Uday Shankar's performance at Kursaal Zürich and immediately began sketching his dance forms, capturing movement in a way rarely done by European artists of her time.

2. 🌍 Between 1926 and 1930, Boner traveled with Uday Shankar through Morocco, Tunisia, and India, using letters from Shankar's father to gain access to royal courts, yet they faced reluctance from Maharajas wary of supporting their Indian dance troupe.

3. 🎨 By 1935, Boner decided to migrate permanently to India, shifting her career from European sculpture exhibitions to studying Indian art and dance deeply, marking a rare cross-cultural artistic immersion in the pre-independence era.

4. In 1931, the Uday Shankar Ballet Troupe, with Boner as artistic advisor and manager, performed at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, blending Indian cultural expression with Western modernist stages.

5. ✍️ Boner’s sketches of Indian dancers like Uday Shankar and the Brown sisters were quick, minimalistic studies that focused uniquely on the essential body movements, differing from the detailed portraiture common in Western art at the time.

6. Her works, including sculptures from her youth, are preserved in Switzerland’s Rietberg Museum, connecting European modern art collections with Indian dance heritage.

7. ❓ How did a Swiss artist’s intimate collaboration with Uday Shankar reshape both her understanding of art and the global perception of Indian dance during the interwar period?