The grand dame of art returns

Anjolie Ela Menon's latest exhibition at Vadehra Art Gallery in Delhi imbues author with a sense of the familiar, with a new candidness

Bright summer sunshine filters in through bay windows to cast a glow on radiant oil works. The first floor of Vadehra Art Gallery is where Anjolie Ela Menon, the grand dame of art, is exhibiting her bigger works, while the second floor is reserved for smaller portraits and heads. The show, which comprises 38 of her paintings, imbues one with a sense of the familiar. These are classic Menon works with their luminosity, use of masonite, striking central figures and play on textures. And yet, one can sense something different. In her very early works, the eyes of her subjects used to be closed or browned out. However, her later creations, particularly the ones being shown here, display an openness in countenance. The eyes are open, even though the straight gaze is often shadowed by melancholia.

"I think, my earlier work was far more autobiographical or subjective, and the manifestations of this introspection often stopped short of revelation, keeping the final secrets unrevealed, behind hooded eyes," Menon had said in an interview to art critic Isana Murti (pseudonym for defence analyst C Uday Bhaskar). Later, she began to view her subjects more objectively and it became easier to be more inclusive and candid.

 

Her latest works take forward the theme of her older series, "Divine Mothers". "Most of her works - be it Parvati or Madonna with Christ, explore the concept of motherhood," says Sonia Ballaney of Vadehra Art Gallery, who helped Menon put together the exhibition. The other major work of hers, besides Parvati, is the mammoth triptych, Upanayanam. "It is the kind of size that she has not done in the past," says Ballaney. The rich sombre colours and sensual melancholic figures are gently highlighted with accents of brightly hued detail. "Upanayanam simply arrests one's attention," says Sunaina Anand, director, Art Alive Gallery, who is an ardent admirer of Menon's treatment of the feminine form. "The small portraits and heads too have a mysterious quality about them."

The feminine form and motherhood as a theme have found place in Menon's work in the past five decades. "When my kids were small, that inspiration got reinforced. Later again, I did a spate of mother and child paintings when my grandchildren came along," says Menon, as we chat in a warm, sunlit corner of the gallery. She feels that women are extremely fortunate to have this ability to grow a life inside, a phenomenon that she celebrated in her series on the embryo inside the womb. "I am interested in the theme of motherhood, nurturing and fecundity," she says. "The earliest Lakshmi, which I think dates back to the 9th century, is shown as a lotus placed on a yoni because fecundity was considered equal to wealth in the days before cash. Unlucky men that they don't have this ability!" The idea of "Divine Mothers" stemmed from the endless dichotomy in society itself of worshipping Devi and then treating women as less than dirt. "I have never been a didactic painter, but this is my way of responding to something that Indian women are facing," she says.

Isana Murti, in his three-decade assessment of her work, which he put together in a book, Anjolie Ela Menon: Through The Patina, feels that she combines the sensuousness of femininity in a very empathetic and sensitive manner. "That is heightened by her choice of palette, wherein the visage of the woman or the young girl is leavened with a degree of stoic and concealed sadness," he says in an email interview.

An extremely striking work is the Nizamuddin Basti, which has been inspired by the people who inhabit it. "I am part of their lives - the rituals, births, festivals and more. The kids call me dadi. I am accepted for who I am," says Menon whose studio is in the basti. Even the goats from the basti find a place in her paintings. "They are very friendly. If I leave the door open, they come in and try to eat the drawings," she laughs. It is because of such vibrant life around her that makes it hard for her not to be a figurative painter.

Besides this, the exhibition shows her greatest love - oils on masonite. She feels that one of the greatest challenges for an artist is to establish a signature. "It takes a long time. But, if after 58 years, I have established a signature, it is a comforting thought," she says. This artistic trademark is reflected in the use of pigment and the sombre quality of the stiff central figure. "However, I have added to this by evolving the technique of moving pigment on a hard surface. That's why I have never used acrylic. It's too static," she says. Murti also notes that Menon is the only painter of her stature who works on hard surface. "In a lighter vein, Menon is both Grand Dame Van Dyke and Lady Masonite," he says. "This imbues her work with a certain classical sheen that is not evidenced in the work of younger artists. Hence, an Anjolie Ela Menon painting has a surface quality and depth of nuance that masonite enables in a manner that canvas may not."

The exhibition is open to public till April 27 at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi