In Triumph of Labour, how is the History discussed?
On a summer evening in May 1923, M. Singaravelu, a labour union leader, conducted a meeting at the Marina Beach near Triplicane, calling for recognition of workers' rights, and pledged to create a political party to represent the rights of labourers, which was India's first ever May Day rally. To commemorate this, the Labour statue, depicting an inspiring posture of a team of labourers engrossed at arduous work, was sculpted by Debi Prasad Roy Chowdhury, who was the first Indian principal of the then Government of Madras School of Arts and Crafts (what is today the Tamil Nadu Government College of Fine Arts) and was erected on 25 January 1959, unveiled by the then Governor of Madras, Bishnuram Medhi.Roy Chowdhury was not fixated on one or two particular models, but rather relied on multiple models to bring his artistic vision to life. Therefore, the importance of any one model in the creation of the statue should not be overemphasized.
Government of Madras School of Arts and Crafts Triplicane Tamil Nadu Government M. Singaravelu Marina Beach pledged Governor of Madras sculpted Debi Prasad Roy Chowdhury labourers labour union Madras School political party May Day Bishnuram Medhi