"Good Shepherd" (2004) is a museum-level oil on board painting by famed post-Modern female Indian artist Anjolie Ela Menon (India, b. 1940). "Good Shepherd" is one of the most visually sophisticated and largest works by the artist to-date, with the central figure of Christ depicted gazing outwards in incredible detail surrounded by his flock of goats that he lays down his life for. The vibrant color palette and the celebratory patterns that fill the scene make this work a tour-de-force by the artist, and are compressed into a single-picture plane, that references icon paintings. The empty mountainscape in the distance as well as a second, quiet figure who lends a sympathetic hand to Christ, both add a sense of emotion and poignancy to the work, as well as place this narrative into spatial context, making this one of Anjolie's most visually contemplative, meditative and successful paintings to-date. "Good Shepherd" measures an impressive 46.30 x 23.15 inches (117.6 x 60 cm) is in excellent condition and accompanied by all provenance and authenticity documents. This sale marks the first time this masterpiece by Anjolie has been offered at international auction.
Anjolie Ela Menon is one of India's leading Contemporary female artists, and her talent as an artist was evident very early in her life, as at age 18 she held a solo exhibition with fifty-three paintings of a variety of styles. 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 famous women's college, Miranda House. During this time, she was drawn to the works of Modigliani, and Indian painters, M F Husain and Amrita Shergil. Her creative brilliance was noticed not only in India, but in Europe, and the French Government awarded her a scholarship to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Before returning home, she traveled extensively in Europe and West Asia studying Romanesque and Byzantine art. She is internationally acclaimed for her colorful figurative paintings of religious figures such as Christ and Mother Theresa, as well as secular portraits of men and women of her native India, that all conflate the religion, culture, colors, sights and sounds of traditional India, with western painting styles, such as cubism an influence on the artist, with her preferred medium oil on masonite. Her paintings are held in top Museum and private collections, world-wide and a major painting "Yatra" was acquired by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, California in 2006. She was awarded the prestigious Padma Shree award in 2000. The artist lives and works in New Delhi.
