In line with the local
Indian Modernism’s last vestiges lie in the Madras Art Movement, which takes centrestage at DAG’s current exhibition in New Delhi
To condense an art movement that spanned decades and ideologies, and gave Modernism a new visual language in India, into the con nes of a gallery is a mammoth task. In the second edition of Madras Modern: Regionalism and Identity, at
Delhi’s DAG, canvases lend a birds-eye view into a practice that took pride in its Indianness. They speak volumes of a late modernist movement that originated in South India, more speci cally then-Madras. The Madras Art Movement of the 1960s, fading traces of which are still seen in the isolated, and now-changed Cholamandal Artists’ Village in Chennai, was a pivotal moment in the art history of South India, its roots rmly planted within the picturesque campus of the Government College of Fine Arts, Egmore.
Under the watchful and guiding eyes of artist-teacher KCS Paniker, the movement sought to decry the omnipresent colonial gaze, and
nd a new language that was unapologetically Indian, deriving largely from the region’s cultural heritage.
From DP Roy Chowdhury’s unparalleled command over shadows and light, and his student Paniker’s innovative use of text, lines and striking colours, to a more modern language of abstraction by L Munuswamy, and intricate sculptures of Dakshinamoorthy, Madras Modern attempts to show facets of a movement through a two-part exhibit.
“The rst iteration was in Bombay in 2019. Typically, we take historical perspectives of such movements, whether it is the Bengal school, Shantiniketan or the Bombay Progressives. It was instinctive for us to try and cover all parts of central history to get into the Madras Art Movement,” says Ashok Singh, senior vice president, DAG. Though slightly more edited than the rst, the artists on display remain the same. “The bulk of it comes out of DAG’s own inventory, and where we were not able to ll a void, was in the women’s voice,” says Ashok. The book, published alongside the
rst edition, was written by
Ashra S Bhagat and is a comprehensive explainer of the
Movement and how it inuenced contemporary art in India, replete with a peek into some of the exceptional works born out of this school.
Setting context
Locating a movement as vast as this one historically is important for the curation, says Ashok.
“We had initially begun with Paniker, but that would not have provided a clear sense of history of how the Madras school of art received this huge boost when
Roy Chowdhury reinvigorated the Visuals Arts Department of the Government College of Fine Arts. His pedagogy led to the excellence of someone like artist-teacher Paniker.” And a later exhibition in London where a critic exclaimed, ‘while the work was excellent, where was India in it?’, proved as a trigger point for this shift in perspective.
“This set him o on a search,” he continues. Having found that pivot, he encouraged fellow artists to create art around the new direction. “This led to a clear sense of regionalisation and a focus on the written word and letter, and the line,” says Ashok adding that they walked through the movement with artists from various paradigms.
The curation also looks at guration, and how the immediate environments of the Cholamandal Artists Village and its surroundings, shaped the bodies of work, making it more local. “Then there are the abstractionists like C Douglas,” says Ashok. Later artists, (some are descendents of the pioneers, like Paniker’s son S Nandagopal) who have taken this legacy forward through a language more contemporary, have also marked their presence in the collection.
“The foundation of the movement was so strong that each artist was able to nd something to take forward. And that is the best form of legacy,” says Ashok.
Madras Modern: Regionalism and Identity is on show till July 6 at DAG, New Delhi.
Typically, we take historical perspectives of such movements, whether it is the Bengal school, Shantiniketan or the Bombay Progressives. It was instinctive for us to try and cover all parts of central history to get into the Madras Art Movement
ASHOK SINGH
Senior vice president, DAG