Madras Art Movement

The Madras Art Movement, or The Madras Movement, was a regional art movement that emerged in Madras (now Chennai), South India, from the early 1960s through the 1980s. It is recognized for its efforts to establish a modern Indian artistic identity rooted in indigenous and regional traditions and art forms, local history, and mythology, while selectively engaging with international modernist principles. The Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai and Cholamandal Artists' Village served as the key centres for this movement, with artists like K. C. S. Paniker playing a pioneering role in shaping its direction. Several notable artists emerged from this movement such as A. P. Santhanaraj, L. Munuswamy, Anthony Doss, Redappa Naidu, K. Sreenivasulu, Sultan Ali, Velu Viswanadhan, K. M. Adimoolam, S. G. Vasudev, and T. K. Padmini, all of whom played significant roles in shaping the movement’s identity and achieved national and international recognition. After death of Paniker in 1977, the movement slowly faded due to loss of the pivotal leadership, internal divisions, emergence of new art centers, and shifts in the broader art world towards more global and pluralistic approaches. While the Cholamandal Artists’ Village and individual artists continued to thrive, the cohesive movement as it was originally conceived gradually dissolved by the late 1970s and 1980s.