Crow | Oil On Masonite Board| 12” X 10” | 2023

Prithvi | Oil on Masonite Board | 10” x 7” | 2015

Anjolie Ela Menon often structures her paintings around enigmatic figures who seem to travel to us from previous historical periods or distant milieux: sages, nymphs, saints, nomads. Menon studied at the Sir JJ School of Art, Mumbai, earned a degree in English Literature from Delhi University, and was awarded a French Government scholarship (1961-1962) to study fresco at the École des Beaux Arts, Paris. Menon has always been open to experimentation. With Mutations, shown in New York (1996), Menon effected a major change in medium, becoming one of the first Indian painters to create computer-aided images, which were based on her own paintings. She has participated in the Algiers Biennale, the Sao Paulo Biennale, and three editions of Triennale India, New Delhi. She has held forty-five solo exhibitions, including retrospectives at the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, and the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai. She has held solo exhibitions with Art Musings in 2006 and 2015. Group Shows with Art Musings include If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, 2019; The 20th; 2019; The Confluence Monsoon Show; 2018; India Art Fair; 2018; Quarto; 2013; India Art Fair; 2013 & 2012; Resonance, 2011; Master Strokes, 2003; Return to Eden, 2001; Opening Show, 1999.

Menon has been a trustee of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and served on the advisory committee and art purchase committee of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. Two books have been published on her work: Anjolie Ela Menon: Paintings in Private Collections (1995) and Anjolie Ela Menon: Through the Patina (2010), both by Isana Murti. A book, Celebration, accompanied her major solo show at the Asian Arts Museum, San Francisco. She has been awarded the Padma Shree by the Republic of India and the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France. The artist lives and works in New Delhi.