Osian's Auction Catalogue Masterpieces and Museum-Quality III | March 2004

100 OSIAN’S 42 ANJOLIE ELA MENON (b.1940 / Burnpur, West Bengal) OSIANs S.I.R. ANALYSIS [1992–2003] Present Estimate 1,077.28 Previous Highs 3,211.77 [So.Lon/17.06.99; oil on board] 1,880.94 [Sa.com/22.03.01; oil on masonite] Previous Average Works on canvas 450.96 Auction Average 289.84 “ Over the past 45 years the female figure has recurred in several periods of my work – some innocent, some fecund; others, protagonists of sexual dramas discernible yet unseen, often trapped in situations not of their own making… brooding nudes attended by a variety of fauna and flora, Madonnas with child, dreamers, mothers suckling their young, women remembering pain but almost always alone within themselves. More recently, the theme of empowerment seemed to conquer the earlier melancholic preoccupations with the woman in command, where Durga and Kali meld into a single figure symbolizing Shakti as Female Power. In my own work the paradigm shift from the subjective to the objective has been more epochal than apocalyptic. Despite the compulsions of the post modern feminist movement, feminine fables continue to be played out in increasingly inventive if enigmatic manifestations of the old refrains, for do we not collectively share the knowledge of Gilbertus’ knowing Eve, conspiring with Serpent and Adam alike?” (Anjolie Ela Menon, rpt. in Fair & Furious – Feminine Fables as unfolded through the works of 12 contemporary artists EXC. Art Alive, New Delhi 2003.) Family Signed in English l.r. & inscribed on verso Oil and mixed media on masonite board, 2003 90.0 x 60.0 cm (35.4 x 23.6 in) Rs. 900,000 – 1,000,000 US$ 20,000 – 22,200 GB£ 11,000 – 12,200