In 1850, a British surgeon Dr. Alexander Hunter set up an arts institution in Madras. The fine arts engage in a formal appreciation of the world through our senses and Hunter was interested in engaging its humanising effect to professional practice. The Government School of Arts and Crafts as it was known for many years, is today the Government College of Fine Arts. It is the oldest surviving arts institution in India, a remarkable reminder of the beginnings of the merge of East and West, which led to modernism in our country.
The Madras Arts Movement initiated by K.C.S Paniker has its beginnings here. Art thrives in places and people, but philosophy is the rudder. Sitting on one corner of a providential triangle, we are sailing in the schools of thought of not one but three cities, with Chennai as the port of entry.
The coastline of TamilNadu is the profile of a person with a hooked nose, mouth open in a great gasp as if drinking the waters of the Bay of Bengal to quench thirst. The picture is complete with a trickle of land from the lower jaw like drops of water. Chennai is the sacred dot on the forehead and Puducherry sits further South at the bridge of the nose. The triangle forms with Tiruvannamalai 180 km South-West of Chennai. As the poet Blake asked of the tiger — “What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”
Geography here is like divine intervention. The three places energise creative, intelligent and spiritual knowledge from which we can draw as endlessly as we dip into the ocean, a little at a time. These are bare lands favouring the hot sun, merciless to the skin with short shadows under lean palm trees. From such stark blacks and whites, a tornado of thought spirals out, furiously exhorting us all to seek deeper and deeper. The ocean is not the fount, it reminds, it is the well of the mind.
When my fingers ran on a line of paperbacks and stopped at The Razor’s Edge , I was jostled back to my schooldays. This was Maugham’s novel spun out of a spiritual encounter with Ramana Maharshi at Tiruvannamalai. The sage who lived till 1950 in the lap of the hill of Arunachala pointed all to seek inwards with “Who am I?” Sri Ramana’s deep awareness has stoked intelligent and artistic minds world over.
In 1909, Annie Besant adopted the young Krishnamurti and brought him to the Theosophical Society in Madras, deigning he would be a world teacher. By the age of 29, Jiddu Krishnamurti formally emerged as an independent speaker. His method of inquiry pointed out the path of freedom for many individuals. In the writings of artists in Madras from that time, we find many references to his spellbinding talks. His philosophy opened doors to radically creative thinking.
In Puducherry, 160 km South of Chennai, Sri Aurobindo and Mirra Alfassa — the Mother — established the Aurobindo Ashram. Out of this spiritual partnership, organised work in education, crafts and arts became a reality. An accomplished artist, musician and writer, the Mother’s fine sense of detail and need for perfection filtered into every activity. In 1968, Auroville was established in the outskirts of Puducherry with her direction towards a new consciousness.
These creative paths have often migrated to Chennai. It would appear, just as all these events, the marriage of theosophist George Arundale with Rukmini Devi was as important to the destiny of this cultural progression in Madras. The young Rukmini Devi travelled with Arundale to other parts of the world, when she realised her love for Indian dance and music. In Madras she revived our traditions, opening up the learning of Bharatanatyam, performing arts and crafts to a larger community with Kalakshetra.
The Crafts Council Of India started by Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay in 1964 too had its headquarters in Madras: Rukmini Devi was its first president. In many of these endeavours, there is a merge of continents and cultures raising the concern if we are Indian enough. Many waves touch our shores at Chennai, each leaving its catatonic mark. Art here is like filter coffee. Distilled finely, it is relished for its aroma. The Chennai canvas has simply widened its scope engaging many rasikas .
Chennai Canvas links art to design and culture through an inside look at the city.
