Portrait of Melthurse, a Toda Man
Plaster of Paris. Marguerite Milward, 1936
Udhagamandalam, Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu, India
MAA 1949.78
It was the Todas that Milward first set out to sculpt in her Indian expeditions. This mysterious people were a source of fascination for travellers and anthropologists because of their curious Graeco-Roman appearance, Isolation and apparently idyllic pastoral lifestyle. Milward found it difficult to choose the 'best type' of Toda. The men, she found, were particularly striking, with a distinctly classical effect to their features.
