Anjolie Ela Menon

Anjolie Ela Menon was born 1940 in Burnpur, West Bengal, India. Throughout her six-decade-long career, Anjolie Ela Menon has cemented her status as a pioneering figurative painter, working in defiance of the trends of the day. The themes pervading Menon’s artwork are universal yet distinctly Indian: urban life, family, spirituality. Her flat, decisive brushstrokes evoke the style of Byzantine art, harking back to her studies of medieval Christian iconography during her time in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts. Observers of Menon have likened her works to that of Modigliani, Van Gogh, M. F. Husain, and Amrita Sher-Gil.

Since setting off as a young artist committed to deliberate, almost austere figures, Menon has evolved greatly and perfected a style signature to her enigmatic story. Her early works showed a deft hand at applying muted, translucent colors, layering thin glazes of oil paint onto hardboard before burnishing with a soft dry brush. As her style continued to evolve, Menon adopted the distinctive compositional features of early Christian art – namely frontal perspective, the averted head, and slight elongation of the body – while also frequently painting female nudes. Her brushstrokes have grown bolder, her lines sharper and her color palette more saturated as she has matured. Menon’s portfolio features characters inspired by loved ones alongside black crows, empty chairs, and hidden figures encapsulating feelings of distance and loss.

She lives and works in New Delhi, India.