Anjolie Ela Menon was born in 1940 in Burnpur, West Bengal. She joined the J.J. School of Art in Bombay for getting a formal art education but she found the academic atmosphere there stifling and she left her studies unfinished. She started working as an Artist when she was in School and by the time, she was fifteen has already sold a couple of paintings. In 1959 she left India to pursue Art in Europe on a scholarship from French Government.
While at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Art in Paris, she began experimenting with a muted palette of translucent colours, which she created by the repeated application of oil paint in thin glazes. Menon enhanced the finely textured surface of her paintings by burnishing the finished work with a soft dry brush, creating a glow reminisc...
Anjolie Ela Menon was born in 1940 in Burnpur, West Bengal. She joined the J.J. School of Art in Bombay for getting a formal art education but she found the academic atmosphere there stifling and she left her studies unfinished. She started working as an Artist when she was in School and by the time, she was fifteen has already sold a couple of paintings. In 1959 she left India to pursue Art in Europe on a scholarship from French Government.
While at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Art in Paris, she began experimenting with a muted palette of translucent colours, which she created by the repeated application of oil paint in thin glazes. Menon enhanced the finely textured surface of her paintings by burnishing the finished work with a soft dry brush, creating a glow reminiscent of medieval icons. She utilized the characteristics of early Christian art – including the frontal perspective, the averted head, and the slight body elongation – but took the female nude as a frequent subject. The result is a dynamic relationship of the erotic and the melancholic.
Menon’s works are figurative with immense depth. The more you look at them the more these works communicate with you. The eyes, hands and other body parts seem so real you could feel them. Her early works were influence by Van Gogh, Modigliani, Amrita Sher Gill and other such expressionist artists. These were mostly portraits dominated by use of colours.
Anjolie Ela Menon has been exhibiting her works since 1959. She had exhibited in Delhi, Mumbai, New York, Hong Kong, etc. Her works have also been exhibited in Paris Biennale Sao Paulo Biennale and various other important exhibitions globally. She had the exhibition ‘Menongitis-Three Generations of Art’ exhibition with her son and granddaughters at Dhoomimal Gallery in 2007. Anjolie Ela Menon has participated in exhibitions like ‘Masterclass’, Dhoomimal Art Gallery, 2011; ‘Iconic Impressions’, Aicon Gallery, New York, 2012; ‘Art for Humanity’, Coomaraswamy Hall, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai, 2012. Her works are in the collection of NGMA, New Delhi and other important collections in India and abroad. Menon was awarded the highest civilian honor Padma Shri by the Indian Government in 2000. In addition to that the French Government also awarded her the Chevalier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Letters.
