Survey exhibition focuses on artistic realm of centuries-old commercial art

CHENNAI: In every Indian household, a common practice is to save pictures of gods and goddesses from posters, calendars, and newspaper cuttings. Upon careful observation, these artworks reveal intricate differences over time. Who are the artists behind this, and how has this evolution taken place? This art form is termed commercial art and it collectively refers to arts created for commercial purposes like marketing. Artists from the 1960s breathed life into the divine figures with their imagination and brush strokes. As a tribute to those renowned artists and to impart awareness about commercial art and the Madras Art Movement, Ashvita’s Gallery is organising an exhibition, titled Spiritual and Vernacular Expressions from the South: A Survey Exhibition.

“Saami padam remains relevant even today, particularly in south India. In our effort to explore new avenues, we decided to curate a survey exhibition. The artworks showcased here aim to capture the evolution of religious art,” says curator Nafeesa Kaderkutty, community engagement manager at Ashvita’s Gallery. A few of the arts showcased here date back to the 1800s.

What is a survey exhibition? It is an exhibition of a group of artists from different timelines and requires research about the reason behind that particular painting. “We wanted to concentrate on south India because not many know about these artistic aspects of the region. People from other parts of the country are not well-informed about the iconic Madras Art Movement or the artists who created a huge impact in commercial art,” shares the 26-year-old curator.

Madras Art Movement is centred around two institutions – The Government College of Arts and Crafts and The Cholamandal Artists’ Village. The artists turned into visionaries who engaged in modernism in art. In the early 60s, artists like Devi Prasad Roy Chowdhury, S Danapal, K Sreenivasulu and R Varadarajan started taking inspiration from their roots and created works that had a modern touch from the West.

Delving deep into the evolution of devotional painting, she elucidates, “From the temple murals, people started painting images and scenes of devotional characters on a plank. That was upgraded with gemstones and gold foils, which are the Tanjore paintings. During the British period, with the advancement of trade relations and technology, reverse glass painting was introduced. This was a more economical option.”

By the 1880s, lithography emerged as one of the earliest forms of print medium. Explaining its importance, a black and white hand-painted lithography of Ramar Pattabhisegam is exhibited at the gallery that is from the 1880s. Amalgamating traditional painting and modern calendar art, C Kondiah Raju pioneered chromolithography. His depictions of deities not only highlighted their divine attributes and mythological narratives but also established enduring symbolic references for female figures. With the offset printing, CMYK (colour model) came into the picture. There are also handpainted photographs. “We are displaying calender prints, which was a marketing strategy by the business owners. They gift calendar prints with their brand’s name to the customers, so that people will not throw the god’s picture,” she adds.

“There was an assumption of how women should look like. The structure of the figures in the art is different now. It had an influence on the looks of female actors in films and even in sculptures,” Nafeesa states. Around 50 art pieces of artists are displayed at the exhibition. Spiritual and Vernacular Expressions from the South: A Survey Exhibition will be open to the public till February 20 at Ashvita’s Gallery, Mylapore.