Cholamandal Artists' Village

Cholamandal Artists’Village akkithamnarayanan c.douglas k.s.gopal p.gopinath m.v.devan k.r.harie k.v.haridasan p.s.nandhan s.nandagopal s.p.jayakar k.jayapalapanicker a.selvaraj m.senathipathi s.g.vasudev venkatapathy v.vishwanathan richardjesudoss muralidharan palaniappan s.paramasivam

Address: Cholamandal Cultural Centre for Contemporary Art East Coast Road Injambakkam, Chennai – 600 041 T: +91 44 24490092 E: [email protected] W: www.cholamandalartistsvillage.org 69

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The beaches of Cholamandalam village on the Mammallapuram coast at village Injambakkam, 9 km from Chennai, have witnessed a quiet and beautiful movement since 1966. That was when the Cholamandalam Artists’ Village was established. It is the largest artists’ commune in India, whose artists are credited for the Madras Movement of Art (1950s–1980s), which brought modernism to art in the South India. Their work is widely recognized as some of the best art produced in postwar India, and is shown regularly in galleries across the country. The community was founded by K. C. S. Paniker, the principal of the Madras School of Arts, along with his students and a few artists associated with the college. It used the `art-meets-craft’ approach where artists made handicrafts for a living even as they pursued their art. It has over twenty resident painters and sculptors, who live as a community and pool their skills; they also run the Artists Handicrafts Association, a cooperative which manages the village and sale of works through the permanent exhibition at the complex, which includes paintings, sketches, terra-cotta/stone/metal sculptures, batiks and handicrafts etc., made by the artists living the village, making the village a selfsupporting entity. By 1970s, the village became self-sufficient, and grew into one of the most important meeting places for international artists in India, and today, it remains one of the few artist-driven movements that India. Several Cholamandalam artists have also shown in Europe, the United States and South America. Four decades on, it is one of the few artists’ colonies in the world to survive successfully and its foundation remains one of the “10 biggest art moments” in India.

Akitham Narayanan (b. 1939) Untitled Acrylic on canvas 24 x 24 inches

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C. Douglas (b. 1951)

P. Gopinath (b. 1948)

Untitled Mixed media on paper mounted on canvas 48 x 36 inches

K. S. Gopal (b. 1938) Om Graphic print 18 x 18 inches

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Untitled Acrylic on canvas 48 x 36 inches

M.V. Devan (b. 1928) Composition Pen & ink drawing 12 x 15 inches

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K. R. Harie (b. 1941)

P. S. Nandhan (b. 1940)

Rockscape Pen & ink drawing 30 x 22 inches

Twisted form Granite 34 x 11 inches

K.V. Haridasan (b. 1937) Brahmasutra Oil on canvas 48 x 48 inches

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S. Nandagopal (b. 1946) Sleep Welded copper and brass

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K. Jayapala Panicker (b. 1937) Untitled Mixed media on paper 22 x 15 inches

S. P. Jayakar (b. 1931) Rama & Sita Acrylic on paper 16 x 22 inches

A. Selvaraj (b. 1943) Untitled Acrylic on canvas 36 x 48 inches

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M. Senathipathi (b. 1939)

Venkatapathy (b. 1935)

Untitled Acrylic on canvas 48 x 36 inches

S. G.Vasudev (b. 1941) Rhapsody Acrylic on canvas 48 x 36 inches

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Untitled Acrylic on canvas 44 x 36 inches

V.Vishwanathan (b. 1940) Untitled Acrylic on canvas 36 x 36 inches

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Muralidharan (b. 1954) Untitled Mixed media on canvas 29 x 18 inches

Richard Jesudoss (b. 1939) Untitled Bronze 15 inches

Palaniappan (b. 1957) Albuquerque Lithograph 22 x 30 inches

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S. Paramasivam (b. 1942) Untitled Welded copper sheet 60 inches

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