Cholamandal Artists' Village - History

History

Most of the original founding creative artists, painters and sculptors were students and artists associated with the Government School of Arts and Crafts, Chennai (Madras School of Arts), where K.C.S. Paniker, noted metaphysical and abstract painter, was principal 1957 to 1967. These artists desired to form a congenial space for practising their art; thirty eight of them got together and formed the 'Artists Handicrafts Association' (AHA) in 1963 initially to sell the works of artists.

Gradually the artists started working together, producing handicrafts in their spare time, they were among the first in the country to produce batik fabric, proceeds of their first batik exhibition went into buying the 8.5 acres (34,000 m2) of land in 1966, which was to make up the village. By now K.C.S. Paniker had retired and founded the artists commune in April 1966. It was named after the Chola dynasty, which is known to have encouraged arts and ruled the region, 9-13th century AD; called Cholamandalam in Tamil, which literally translated as The realm of the Cholas,. Chola also lends its name to the Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal, which is few minutes of walk away from the village. Another reason was the Paniker was "worried that his students might deviate from art due to financial compulsions".

In the same year six artists moved into live and work on their own land. In the 60s, while they could hardly sell their paintings, avant garde wood and leather work, batik, ceramics and metal craft made by them, found a good market, this sustained them for the duration, while the local buyers were familiarized to modernism, which their art represented.

Electricity was provided only in 1968 and till 1972 the mud road ended at Muttukadu. Then situated on a lonely, bumpy road, now known as the East Coast Road highway to Mahabalipuram, from Adyar, and Chennai was still further away, though today due to rapid expansion, it is right at its door steps, and the road is busy with traffic and shops and commercial establishments. Over the years, built their houses, studios, exhibition gallery, theatre, workshop and kitchen, which they jointly owned along with all the infrastructure of the village. Apart from that it nurtured artists such as P.S. Nandan, Haridasan, S. Nanda Gopal, Vasudev, K.Jayapala Panicker, Gopinath, Senathipathy, M.V. Devan and Richard Jesudas. Soon they formed a cooperative to look after the viilage, also built a gallery, which displayed and sold their works; 20% of their sales went to their association ‘Cholamandal Artists Handicrafts Association’, which used the funds for the upkeep of the Village. In time the cooperative became self-sufficient and held exhibition of their work in major cities of India.

K.C.S. Paniker died in 1977, but by this time the village had become self-sufficient, without any government funding, and the module had proven sustainable. Over the years, work done by the artists at the village, initiated a period in south Indian art called the 'Madras Movement', which brought modernism to south Indian art. Progressive Painters’ Association (P.P.A), one of the oldest art associations in India founded by Paniker in Chennai in 1944, after remaining inactive for many year after Paniker's death, the association was revived in 2006, and a new committee formed, it is now being carried forward by artists at the village, and an annually elected general council of members administers Cholamandal. The village still continues to produce artists of great talent such as S. Ravi Shankar, A. Selveraj and Shailesh B.O. amongst many others.