Their work is widely recognized as some of the best art produced in postwar India and is shown regularly in galleries across the country.
[2][3][4] The community was founded by K. C. S. Paniker, the principal of the Madras School of Arts, along with his students and a few artists associated with the college.
Four decades on, it is one of the few artists' colonies in the world to survive successfully and its foundation remains one of the "10 biggest art moments" in India.
In the 60s, while they could hardly sell their paintings, avant garde wood and leather work, batik, ceramics and metal craft, they found a good market.
Over the years, the community built its houses, studios, exhibition gallery, theatre, workshop and kitchen, which it jointly owned along with all the infrastructure of the village.
It nurtured artists such as J. Sultan Ali, K. M. Gopal[10] S. Kanniappan, K. Ramanujam, M. Reddeppa Naidu, S. P. Jayakar, K. R. Harie, P. S. Nandan, Akkitham Narayanan, Namboothiri, Paris Viswanathan, D. Venkatapathy, Haridasan, S. Nanda Gopal, S. G. Vasudev, K. Jayapala Panicker, Gopinath, Senathipathy, M. V. Devan and Richard Jesudas.
It is now being carried forward by artists at the village[13][14][15] and an annually elected general council of members administers Cholamandal.
[5] The artists raised money from the private sector to fund a museum in the village, which would house a permanent collection of artworks representative of the Madras Movement.
After three and half years of construction the building was finished — thus started a long search for works that exemplified the Madras Movement, which flourished between the early 50s and the 80s.
Eventually about 60 per cent of the works were donated by senior artists and the rest were given on extended loan by art collectors around the country.
The centre has two commercial galleries, 'Labernum' and 'Indigo', that can be rented free of commission charge, an art book store, and a craft shop.
[18] The original Artists Handicrafts Association is still in charge of the colony, and Paniker's son, sculptor S. Nandagopal, is the secretary of the village.