Much has been said about friendship that sometimes one wonders if there is anything left to be said at all. We’ve all read a million quotes and hummed along to countless tunes about the greatness of friendship. In spite of it all, friendship is a feeling that sometimes cannot be contained within any vocabulary or musical chords. It simply must be lived and experienced.
There barely would exist a soul on this planet who has never experienced the beauty of a friendship. Even the coldest, most detached among us will surely have that one pillar of support to lean on and save us from the darkest rain-drenched day. Art is a solitary practice, no doubt — one which does not come with office colleagues to share a joke with or a business partner to shoulder your stress together with. The artist and the studio are primarily lonely spaces.
Creativity needs that isolation perhaps; to think and create. And yet, some of the best masterpieces in the world were born out of friendships in the world of art. Ahead of International Friendship Day, here’s a look at some of them that stand as testimony to the undying power of friendships.
Husain and Souza
Most of us who know something about art must have certainly heard of MF Husain in some context or the other — either about his paintings of galloping horses that refuse to be reined in or the controversies that plagued his later years and drove him out of the country in self-exile. But not many know of his endearing friendship with fellow artist, FN Souza.
When the Bombay Art Society, founded in 1888 to promote art, lacked in its criteria with regard to the selection of artists, Francis Newton Souza initiated the idea of starting a platform where artists could voice their opinions and grievances and thus was born the Progressive Artists’ Group in 1947. It was Souza who invited Husain to join this movement. “I discovered Husain. He was painting billboards in Bombay”, he is known to have often stated.
Both Husain and Souza came from humble backgrounds, had lost one of their parents at a very early age and knew the pangs of middle-class living. Both were exceptionally talented and when they met at the JJ School of Art, it was only natural that a beautiful friendship bloomed. They had much in common — traits of rebelliousness and a desire to decolonise their art by moving away from the styles that were taught at the academy. Souza often called Husain his “best friend”. They supported each other, inspired one another and even travelled together. Their portraits of each other still remain to tell the stories of their friendship, with Souza painting Husain’s portrait in 1948 and the latter reciprocating by making a painting of Souza in 1950.
Women, art and friendship
Though the Progressives had made it to the pages of Indian art history by challenging the way Indian art was perceived and executed, this group of male artists was not the sole harbingers of change. The Four Women Artists can be credited to be the first group of all-women artists, who came together to use the fire of their female friendship to create a conducive environment for women in art. Nilima Sheikh, Arpita Singh, Nalini Malani and Madhvi Parekh travelled in trains, carrying their paintings with them to exhibitions and held four exhibitions together.
Although these artists have gone forth to build their respective careers and are important names to reckon with in the art world today, their support for each other in the early years certainly says a lot about how important it is to come together, especially as women to make things possible through solidarity.
Kadak collective
The sky’s the limit when women forge friendships and do things together. The Kadak Collective is a group of female artists from South Asia, who established a collective to address the issue of the lack of representation of women in art. Initially starting off with eight women artists, the group soon expanded to include many more illustrators and designers. The group focuses on graphic art projects. Their first project was a collection of comic prints which was presented at the East London Comic Arts Festival.
In 2016, the Kadak Collective launched a travelling library in a project titled Reading Room and the members of the collective also included their exhibits. Once again in 2019, they launched an anthology of visual art created by the members titled ‘Bystander’. Through these works, they examined ideas of community and the denial of access to women both in public and private spaces.
Friendships beyond gender stereotypes
Friendship knows no boundaries or gender. The Aravani Art Project celebrates these bonds by creating safe spaces for the trans community through art. The trans and cis women artists in this collective that was founded by Bengaluru-based artist Poornima Sukumar have been transforming the streets by creating spectacular murals on public walls. How does someone who does not fit into the norms of society fight the stigma and inequality? Unity in friendship is the key.
Thanks to this project, trans women who have never been able to own public spaces but rather have been subjected to ridicule and driven out, are now able to reclaim these spaces with dignity and allow their art to speak their anguish. With their vibrant and eye-catching artworks, these trans women who are one in spirit have made extraordinary progress in broadening narrow mindsets. They were also invited to create a 50 ft long mural at the India Art Fair recently which was very well received.
A movement founded on friendship
When KCS Paniker envisioned an artist's village where artists could live and work together, it was not his solitary dream. It was visualised as a community where friendship between artists living in close proximity would pave the way for revolutionary ways of thinking. One of the biggest artist collectives that was largely self-sufficient, the Cholamandal Artists Village is located in Chennai and strived to promote an exchange of ideas whilst living in harmony. It began with thirty artists and sculptors who yearned to break away and reestablish their cultural identities in the security of friendship.
Spread over 10 acres, the village included the homes and studios of artists who sustained themselves initially by producing handicrafts along with their art practice. It was decided that all their earnings would be pooled into a collective fund that could be used for their sustenance. The village still is a major tourist attraction even though the original form of Cholamandal as a commune has ceased to exist and it will always remain as one of the most remarkable embodiments of what artists and friendships can do to change cultural landscapes.
Friendships that defy age
Most of the friendships we know of are predictable as it is a well-known fact that like-minded people strike a bond. And to be on the same mental plane, a lot of factors like age and circumstances do matter. That is why the friendship between American artist Norman Rockwell and Grandma Moses in the late 1940s reads like a charming fairy tale. Rockwell was an artist known for his paintings that reflected aspects of American life.
His works range from civil rights to the daily life of an average American in the 1940s and 50s. Grandma Moses, on the other hand, began painting at the unlikely age of 78 and went on to gain immense popularity in the 1950s, even being featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1953.
When Rockwell had enough of the fast-paced life of the city, he decided to leave New York and move to his countryside dwelling in Arlington, Vermont in 1938. And the story goes that Grandma Moses happened to live on a farm close by and when the two met, though decades apart in age, they discovered that their interests and the subjects they addressed through their art practice had a lot of common ground. The simplicity of the everyday life of an average American household found its way into both their canvases. They soon struck up a friendship that was almost like family and found themselves spending a lot of time together.
Rockwell even included his beloved Grandma Moses in one of his paintings. Their bond is a fine example that age has absolutely no significance in a friendship. Friendships in art are very often not taken seriously and are merely treated as professional collaborations. But, these intense and intricate friendships have founded movements, revolutions and propelled art practices. May good friends and great art always challenge and transform the world into a beautiful place!