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Patronage of the arts has been an important feature throughout history, and is most notable during the Medieval and Renaissance periods in Europe. Patronage was also popular in Feudal Japan and other Southeast Asian kingdoms and societies with a prominent aristocratic society. Artistic patronage was used liberally by the ruling classes to endorse political ambition, social positions and prestige.
Patronage of art in India is best exemplified by Raja Ravi Varma, who is still celebrated as one of the country’s finest painters from the 19th century. Raja Ravi Varma garnered profound success and praise for his style of blending European Academic realism and the Indian context. With his marriage into a prominent society as well as the numerous awards he won with his art, Ravi Varma attracted the attention of British and Indian rulers alike, marking the start of his royal patronage from all across India, and leading to immense fame and success. He was lavished with spacious mansions and other luxuries by the rulers of Mysore and Baroda and was asked by numerous royal families across India to paint their portraits. Following a highly successful exhibition in Bombay, Varma launched his very own Lithographic Press Business. Raja Ravi Varma gained even more praise for his beautiful oleographs of Hindu gods and goddesses.
Artist-in-residence programs and studio residency opportunities were created and established to invite artists, academicians, curators, writers and all kinds of creative folk for time and space away from their usual environments and practices. These spaces provide a time of reflection, research, presentation and/or production. Residency programs also allow an individual to explore his/her practice within another community; meeting new people, using new materials, experiencing life in a new location. Art residencies emphasize the importance of meaningful and multi-layered cultural exchange and immersion into another culture.
Artist-in-residence programs have a history that stretches back much further than is often thought. With its present popularity, it seems as if it is a fashionable phenomenon that owes its explosive growth solely to the globalization of artists’ ‘nomadic’ behavior. Quite contrary, artist-in-residence programs have been part of the international art world for over a century and continue to experience growth and evolution in the contemporary context. In India, artist residencies have experienced tremendous growth since Independence in 1947. The Sarabhai Foundation in Ahmedabad was among the very first to establish the concept of working spaces for artists in the country in the 1950’s. Since then, numerous artist residencies and working spaces have emerged across the country, attracting local and international artists from diverse backgrounds and a wide range of disciplines. Each space offers its own unique range of facilities and programs to foster the growth and development of the artists.
Thus, the residency space serves an important aspect in an artist’s life by enabling them to work on a concept or project without the constraints and interruptions of daily life. Artist residencies have enabled the interaction and exchange of ideas between practitioners and professionals all across the globe and provide a stimulating platform for emerging and established artists alike.
Saloni Doshi. Director,
Space118