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{{Short description|Indian art collector (1910/1912–2003)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Helen Chaman Lall
| image = Helen Chamanlal (1910-2003).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Helen Chaman Lall (1930s)
| birth_name = Helen Ali Khan
| birth_date = 1910 or 1912
| birth_place = [[Amritsar]], Punjab, [[British India]]
| death_date = 2003
| death_place = United Kingdom
| other_names =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for = Art collection<br/>Feature of a portrait by [[Amrita Sher-Gil]]
| notable_works =
}}
'''Helen Chaman Lall''' (1910 or 1912 – 2003), sometimes spelled '''Helen Chamanlal''', and also known as '''Helen Lall''', was an Indian collector of art and jewellery. She was the subject of a painting by Indian-Hungarian artist [[Amrita Sher-Gil]].

Lall graduated in medicine, though never practised. In 1936, she married the Indian politician and diplomat [[Diwan Chaman Lall]]. She spent her final years of life in [[England]].

==Early life and education==
Helen Chaman Lall [[née]] Ali Khan was born in 1910,<ref name=Sundaram.2010.214/> or 1912, in Amritsar,<ref name=Pass1946>{{cite web |title=New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/7488/images/NYT715_7154-0844?treeid=&personid=&rc=&queryId=82e2f235-c65c-490b-987e-2126f4e66670&usePUB=true&_phsrc=ram3&_phstart=successSource&pId=3037629482 |website=www.ancestry.co.uk |access-date=13 November 2024|date=1946|via=ancestry.co.uk|url-access=subscription}}</ref> to [[Badrul Islam Ali Khan]], a [[Pashtuns|Pathan]] aristocrat and barrister, and his wife Violet Love, a British woman.<ref name=Sundaram.2010.214>Sundaram, pp. 214-215</ref> Her sister was Leila (also known as Leela) Sikri, who married [[S. M. Sikri]].<ref name=State1970>{{cite book |title=The States |date=1970 |publisher=India News and Feature Alliance. |page=23 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iN0iAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Raj through Indian Eyes: Rushes Tape 9 {{!}} colonialfilm |url=http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/node/3633 |website=www.colonialfilm.org.uk |access-date=14 November 2024}}</ref> Lall graduated in medicine in 1934, though never practised.<ref name=Sundaram.2010.214/><ref>{{cite book |title=Who's Who |date=1958 |publisher=Rajya Sabha Secretariat |location=New Delhi |page=49 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.112991/page/n75/mode/2up?q=helen|chapter=Diwan Chaman Lall}}</ref>

==Personal and family==
[[File:Amrita Sher-Gil Portrait of Helen 1938 Lahore.jpg|left|thumb|Portrait of Helen by Amrita Sher-Gil (January 1938)]]
In 1936, against her father's wishes, Lall married the Indian politician and diplomat [[Diwan Chaman Lall]].<ref name=Sundaram.2010.214/><ref name=Dalmia.213.98>Dalmia, p. 97</ref> They lived in [[Mashobra]], and in 1939 they had a son, named Rahul.<ref name=Sundaram.2010.744>Sundaram, p. 744</ref><ref name=Hasan1995>{{cite book |last1=Hasan |first1=Mushirul |title=India Partitioned: The Other Face of Freedom |date=1995 |publisher=Lotus Collection |isbn=978-81-7436-013-7 |page=226 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lWtOAAAAYAAJ|language=en}}</ref> She was known for her collections of miniatures and jewellery, including ''Balwant Singh relaxing in front of a fireplace'' by [[Nainsukh]] of [[Guler State|Guler]].<ref name=Sundaram.2010.214/><ref>{{cite web |title=Indar Pasricha Fine Arts {{!}} Indian & South Asian Art in London |url=https://www.indarpasricha.co.uk/archive/AR002_Balwant_Singh.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161113183009/http://indarpasricha.co.uk/archive/AR002_Balwant_Singh.html |archive-date=13 November 2016 |access-date=14 November 2024 |website=www.indarpasricha.co.uk}}</ref>

The Indian-Hungarian artist [[Amrita Sher-Gil]] was a close friend of Lall.<ref name=Sundaram.2010.214/> After [[Amrita Sher-Gil's paintings at Lahore (1937)|her solo exhibition]] at [[Faletti's Hotel]] in November 1937 [[Lahore]], Sher-Gil stayed on at the hotel with the Lalls in January 1938 and painted portraits for which she typically charged ₹500 per head.<ref name=Sundaram2010.432>Sundaram, pp. 432–439</ref><ref name=Dalmia2013.103>Dalmia, pp.103–104</ref> She wrote to her parents that in Lahore, she spent most of her time with the Lalls who were "good to me [her]" and that she had begun a portrait of Helen for which she did not want to receive any fee.<ref name=Sundaram2010.432/><ref name=Dalmia2014>{{cite book |last1=Dalmia|first1=Yashodhara |editor1-last=Dalmia |editor1-first=Yashodhara |title=Amrita Sher-Gil: Art & Life : a reader |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-809886-7 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U7W4oAEACAAJ |language=en |chapter=11. Charles Fabri; an iconoclastic vision|page=159}}</ref> The portrait was completed in Lahore in January 1938.<ref name=Sundaram2010.432/> According to Sher-Gil's nephew [[Vivan Sundaram]], the whereabouts of the painting is unknown.<ref name=Sundaram2010.807>Sundaram, p.807</ref>

When Sher-Gil died in December 1941, Lall was by her side.<ref name=Iqbal1984>{{cite book |first1=N|last1=Iqbal |title=Amrita Sher-Gil: A Biography |date=1984 |publisher=Vikas |isbn=978-0-7069-2474-9 |pages=111, 156, 170 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vHbWAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

She later moved to England to be near her son, who had separated from his wife. Her son later died in a house fire in India, apparently caused by his lit cigarette..<ref name="Sundaram.2010.744" />

==Death==
Lall spent her final years in England.<ref name=Sundaram.2010.744/> She died in 2003.<ref name=Sundaram.2010.214/>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
* {{Cite book |last=Dalmia|first=Yashodhara |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mj3mlgEACAAJ |title=Amrita Sher-Gil: A Life |date=2013 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Gurugram |isbn=978-0-14-342026-2 |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last1=Sundaram |first1=Vivan |title=Amrita Sher-Gil: A Self-Portrait in Letters and Writings |date=2010 |publisher=Tulika Books |location=New Delhi |volume=1|pages=1–417|isbn=978-81-89487-59-1}}
* {{cite book |last1=Sundaram |first1=Vivan |title=Amrita Sher-Gil: A Self-Portrait in Letters and Writings |date=2010 |publisher=Tulika Books |location=New Delhi |volume=2|pages=418–821|isbn=978-81-89487-59-1}}

[[Category:1910s births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian art collectors]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women]]
[[Category:People from Amritsar]]

Helen Chaman Lall - Revision history

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