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{{Short description|Indian artist}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2018}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}

{{Infobox person
| image = Anjolie Ela Menon (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| name = Anjolie Ela Menon
| birth_date = 17th July, 1940
| birth_place = Burnpur, [[West Bengal]], India
| education = Miranda College [[University of Delhi]], [[École des Beaux-Arts]], [[Lawrence School, Lovedale|The Lawrence School]], [[Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art]]
| occupation = [[Contemporary painter|Contemporary painter and muralist]]
| notable_works = Yatra, Looking Out of a Window, Acolyte, Portrait of a Young Actor, The Magician Story
| awards = [[Padma Shri]], [[Kalidas Samman]] for Visual Arts
}}
'''Anjolie Ela Menon''' (born 1940) is one of [[India]]'s leading contemporary artists. Her paintings are in several major collections, including the NGMA, the Chandigarh Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Anjolie Ela Menon|url=http://indianculture.gov.in/paintings/other-portfolio/anjolie-ela-menon|access-date=2021-03-14|website=INDIAN CULTURE|language=en}}</ref> In 2006, her triptych work "Yatra" was acquired by the [[Asian Art Museum of San Francisco]], California. Other works also been a part of group exhibitions including 'Kalpana: Figurative Art in India', presented by the [[Indian Council for Cultural Relations]] (ICCR) in London's Aicon Gallery in 2009. Her preferred medium is [[oil painting|oil]] on [[masonite]],<ref name="britannica.com">{{Cite web|title=Anjolie Ela Menon {{!}} Indian painter|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anjolie-Ela-Menon|access-date=2021-03-14|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> though she has also worked in other media, including Murano glass, computer graphics and [[Watercolor painting|water colour]]. She is a well known [[muralist]]. She was awarded the [[Padma Shree]] in 2000.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 |df=dmy }}</ref> She lives and works in New Delhi.<ref name="aicongallery.com">{{Cite web|title=Anjolie Ela Menon - Artists - Aicon Gallery|url=http://www.aicongallery.com/artists/anjolie-ela-menon/biography|access-date=2021-03-14|website=www.aicongallery.com}}</ref>

==Early life==
Anjolie Ela Menon was born on 17 July 1940, in Burnpur, Bengal [now in West Bengal], India and is of mixed Bengali and American parentage.<ref name="contemporaryindianart.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/anjolie_ela_menon.htm|title=Anjolie Ela Menon|website=www.contemporaryindianart.com|access-date=2017-09-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012113242/http://www.contemporaryindianart.com/anjolie_ela_menon.htm|archive-date=12 October 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> She went to [[Lawrence School, Lovedale]] in the [[Nilgiri Hills]], Tamil Nadu. By the age of 15, when she left school, she had already sold a few paintings. Thereafter, she briefly studied at the [[Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art]], [[Mumbai]] and later earned a degree in English literature from [[Delhi University]], where she studied at the women's college, [[Miranda House]]. During this time, she was drawn to the works of [[Amedeo Modigliani|Modigliani]], and Indian painters, [[M F Husain]] and [[Amrita Shergil]]. At 18, she held a solo exhibition with fifty-three paintings of a variety of styles. She obtained a [[French Government]] scholarship to study at the [[École des Beaux-Arts]] in Paris from 1959 to 1961<ref name="britannica.com"/> and she travelled extensively in Europe and West Asia studying [[Romanesque art|Romanesque]] and [[Byzantine art]].<ref name="aicongallery.com"/> During 1980-81, the governments of France, U.K. and US invited her to pursue further studies.<ref name="artalivegallery.com">{{Cite web|url=http://www.artalivegallery.com/artists.php?cat=artists&scat=100|title=Artists;- Anjolie Ela Menon|website=www.artalivegallery.com|access-date=2019-03-12}}</ref>

==Work==
Anjolie Ela Menon's preferred medium was oil on masonite, which she applied by using a series of translucent colours and thin washes. In addition to oil paintings and murals, she worked in several other mediums, including computer graphics and Murano glass. She is best known for her religious-themed works, portraits, and nudes that incorporated a vibrant colour palette and were rendered in a variety of styles ranging from cubism to techniques that recalled the artists of the European Renaissance. In 1997 she, for the first time displayed non-figurative work, including Buddhist abstracts. She represented India at the Paris, Algiers, and São Paulo Biennales and at three Triennales in New Delhi.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.britannica.com/biography/Anjolie-Ela-Menon|title=Anjolie Ela Menon {{!}} Indian painter|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2017-09-29|language=en}}</ref>

Being a well-known muralist, Anjolie Ela Menon has done over 35 solo shows and many group shows in India and abroad. In 1968, 1972 and 1975, she performed along with I, II, III International Triennale by Lalit Kala Akademi, with Paris Biennale, France in 1980 and in 1980 at New York and Washington D.C.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Anjolie Ela Menon - Artists|url=https://www.artalivegallery.com/artists/anjolie-ela-menon.html|access-date=2021-03-14|website=www.artalivegallery.com}}</ref>

In the year 2000, Government of India conferred Anjolie Ela Menon with the most prestigious Padma Shree Award.<ref name="Padma Awards" /> In the same year, she was nominated to be on the board of trustees of the [[Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts]] (IGNCA) — the only visual artist to have ever been nominated.<ref>Begum, Rehana. “[http://ir.amu.ac.in/8562/1/T%208244.pdf Works and Style of Arpana Caur and Anjolie Ela Menon: A Comparative Study],” 2009.</ref> In 2002, her work 'Four Decades' was shown in a major exhibition organised by the Vadehra Art Gallery in the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai. The collection eventually toured other prominent galleries in major Indian cities, including the [[Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath]], Bangalore.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Archive|first=Asia Art|title=Anjolie Ela Menon: Four Decades|url=https://aaa.org.hk/en/collections/search/library/anjolie-ela-menon-four-decades|access-date=2021-03-14|website=aaa.org.hk|language=en}}</ref> Her life and work has been featured in several publications and films made for CNN and Doordarshan Channels.<ref name="artalivegallery.com"/>

==Later life==
Anjolie married her childhood love, [[Rear admiral (India)|Rear Admiral]] (Retd.) Raja Menon,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Raja Menon {{!}} Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses|url=https://idsa.in/taxonomy/term/523|access-date=2021-03-14|website=idsa.in}}</ref> an [[Indian Navy]] officer turned strategic analyst and writer. She has two sons and four grandchildren. Since her marriage, she has lived and worked in India, the US, Europe, Japan and the erstwhile [[USSR]]. She collects works of other artists including [[Arpita Singh|Aprita Singh]], Rini Dumal, [[F. N. Souza|F.N. Souza]], [[Jamini Roy]], [[Ram Kumar (artist)|Ram Kumar]], and [[K. G. Subramanyan|K.G. Subramanyam]].<ref>{{Cite web|title='A Neo Romantic Necrophiliac'|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/a-neo-romantic-necrophiliac/219046|access-date=2021-03-14|website=www.outlookindia.com/}}</ref>

==Awards==
* 2000: The [[Padma Shri]], the fourth highest civilian award in India <ref name="Padma Awards" />
* 2010: Felicitation from the [[Limca Book of Records]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=7 Indians honoured at Limca Book of Records|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/photo/7-indians-honoured-at-limca-book-of-records-363895-2010-06-29|access-date=2021-03-14|website=India Today|language=en}}</ref>
* 2013: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Delhi State Government conferred by then Chief Minister [[Sheila Dikshit]]<ref>{{Cite web|date=2013-08-09|title=Lifetime achievement award for Rashid Khan, Anjolie Ela Menon|url=https://www.thestatesman.com/cities/delhi/lifetime-achievement-award-for-rashid-khan-anjolie-ela-menon-9707.html|access-date=2021-03-14|website=The Statesman|language=en-US}}</ref>
* 2018: [[Kalidas Samman]] for Visual Arts from the Madhya Pradesh government <ref>{{cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/artist-anjolie-ela-menon-conferred-the-kalidas-award-5240996/|title=Artist Anjolie Ela Menon conferred the Kalidas Award|date=1 July 2018|access-date=2 January 2019}}</ref>

==Shows==
Anjolie Ela Menon has had over thirty solo shows including at Black heath Gallery-London, Gallery Radicke-Bonn, Winston Gallery-Washington, Doma Khudozhinkov-USSR, Rabindra Bhavanand Shridharani Gallery-New Delhi, Academy of Fine Arts-Calcutta, the Gallery-Madras, Jehangir Gallery, Chemould Gallery, Taj Gallery, Bombay and Maya Gallery at the Museum Annexe, Hong Kong. A retrospective exhibition was held in 1988 in Bombay and she has participated in several international shows in France, Japan, Russia and USA.<ref name="contemporaryindianart.com"/> In addition to paintings in private and corporate collections, her works have been acquired by museums in India and abroad.

==Publications==
* Anjolie Ela Menon: Paintings in Private Collections Hardcover – 15 November 1995 by Isana Murti (Author), Indira Dayal (Compiler), Anjolie Ela Menon (Illustrator)
* "Anjolie Ela Menon: Through the Patina,” by Isana Murty, published by Vadhera Art Gallery

==Further reading==
* India's 50 Most Illustrious Women'' ({{ISBN|81-88086-19-3}}) by Indra Gupta.
* Anjolie Ela Menon: Images and Techniques. 1996 Marg Publications edited by [[Gayatri Sinha]]: (Chapter in) Expressions and Evocations:Contemporary Women Artists of India.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.saffronart.com/artists/anjolie-menon "Anjolie Ela Menon Profile, Interview and Artworks"]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190223154223/http://gallerienvya.com/ "Gallerie Nvyā – Artist/ View all/ Anjolie Ela Menon"]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20180310141902/http://www.indianartcircle.com/anjolieelamenon/aem_ind1.shtml Anjolie Ela Menon's home page]
*[http://www.theartstrust.com/artistexhibhition.aspx?artistid=88&name=Anjolie%20Ela%20Menon Paintings]
*[http://www.the-south-asian.com/April%202003/Anjolie-Glass%20art-1.htm pictures of glass sculptures]
*[http://www.zingyhomes.com/thought-leaders/anjolie-ela-menon/ "Anjolie Ela Menon on Art & Interior Design"]

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menon, Anjolie}}
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts|Menon, Anjolie Ela]]
[[Category:Living people|Menon, Anjolie Ela]]
[[Category:1940 births|Menon, Anjolie Ela]]
[[Category:Bengali women artists|Menon, Anjolie Ela]]
[[Category:University of Delhi alumni]]
[[Category:Indian women painters]]
[[Category:People from Asansol]]
[[Category:Indian women contemporary artists]]
[[Category:Indian contemporary painters]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women artists]]
[[Category:Women muralists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian painters]]
[[Category:Women artists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Painters from West Bengal]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women artists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian painters]]
[[Category:Indian muralists]]

Anjolie Ela Menon - Revision history

imported>Scorpions13256 at 17:39, 24 June 2021