Madhubani (Mithila) Painting
MADHUBANI /MITHILA PAINTINGS ( MADHUBANI ART) : THE UNIQUE ARTISTIC TRADITION OF MADHUBANI PAINTINGS ORIGINATED IN THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF MITHILA, WHICH EXISTED IN THE REGIONS OF BIHAR JHARKHAND,NORTHEASTERN INDIA, FROM APPROXIMATELY 800 BCE TO 500CE. THE STYLE TRACES ITS ORIGIN TO THE GREAT INDIAN EPIC, RAMAYANA, WHICH MAY HAVE BEEN FIRST COMPOSED AROUND THE MID- SEVENTH TO SIX CENTURIES BCE . THE EPIC RELATES HOW KING JANAK OF MITHILA COMMISSIONED LOCAL ARTISTS TO PAINT MURALS AND DECORATIONS FOR THE WEDDING OF HIS BEAUTIFUL DIVINE DAUGHTER PRINCESS SITA, TO LORD RAMA. FROM THAT TIME FORWARD, THE PEOPLE OF MITHILA CREATED NUPTIAL CHAMBER (KOHBAR GHAR) PAINTINGS FOR THE ROOM IN WHICH THE NEWLYWEDS SPENT THEIR FIRST NIGHT OF CONJUGAL BLISS TOGATHER. HERE THE SYMBOL OF PAINTINGS CELEBRATES THE JOYS OF SEXUAL PLEASURE AND PROCREATION. THE NARRATIVE AND PATTERN IN MADHUBANI ART INTERWINE TO PRESENT A BEAUTIFUL AESTHETIC TRADITION THAT HAS SURVIVED THE PASSAGE OF TIME AND HAS BEEN CARRIED FORWARD INTO THE MODERN ERA THROUGH THE EXCEPTIONAL TALENTS OF ARTISTS OF THE REGION. MADHUBANI ART HAS GRADUALLY COME TO SYMBOLISE WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT, AS THE WOMEN ARTISTS HAS CREATED THE IMAGE OF GOD AND GODDESSES WITH SO DIVINE IN FEELINGS THAT THE PAINTINGS HAVE CAPTURED THE HEARTS OF ART LOVERS AND COLLECTORS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE . THE STYLE OF THE PAINTINGS ARE KATCHNI , BHARNI , GODNA ( TATOO ) TANTRIC, ARIPAN AND KOHBAR , ALTHOUGH THEY ALL RETAINED A VISUAL UNIFORMITY THROUGH THEIR FOCAS ON THE DEPICTION OF DIVINITIES , RITUALS , NATURAL ELEMENTS AND DAILY LIFE. TODAY, THE MADHUBANI ART IN THEIR GLOBALIZED FORMS ARE UNDERGOING CHANGES , AS PAINTERS EXPLORE NEW THEMES , MODES AND MEDIA . MEDIUM : THE TRADITIONAL MEDIUM AND COLOURS USED IN PAINTINGS WAS COWDUNG , RICE PASTE, CHARCOAL, GERU AND COLOURS EXTRACTED FROM FALLEN FLOWERS , INK AND PIGMENTS .WITH PEN BRUSH AND MATCHSTICK IS STILL GOING ON WITH THE ADDITION OF ACRYLIC COLOURS TO MAKE THE PAINTINGS PERFECT AND PERMANENTE. THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE MADHUBANI ART : THE FUNDAMENTAL PHILOSOPHY OF THIS BEAUTIFUL MADHUBANI ART IS BASED ON THE PRINCIPLE OF DUALISM , WHERE EACH PAIR OF OPPOSITE OR PARALLEL LINES RUNS TOGATHER TO COMPLETE A PICTURE, IN WHICH EVERYTHING IS SEEN AS ONE _ THE HOLISTIC TRUTH OF ONENESS _ THE UNIVERSE !! IN FACT THESE PAINTINGS ARE SIMPLISTIC MANIFESTATIONS OF PHILOSOPHICAL HEIGHTS ACHIEVED BY INDIAN CIVILIZATION FOR THE POWER OF LOVE , LONGINGS AND PEACE _ A QUEST FOR ALL BEINGS . Madhubani painting, also referred to as Mithila Painting (as it flourishes in the Mithila region of Bihar, India), is characterized by line drawings filled in by bright colours and contrasts or patterns since at least the 14th century. This ancient tradition, especially elaborated for marriages, continues today. This style of painting has been traditionally done by the women of the region, though today men are also involved to meet the demand. These paintings are popular because of their tribal motifs and use of bright earthy colours. These paintings are done with mineral pigments prepared by the artists. The work is done on freshly plastered or a mud wall. For commercial purposes, the work is now being done on paper, cloth, canvas etc. Cotton wrapped around a bamboo stick forms the brush. Black colour is obtained by mixing soot with cow dung; yellow from turmeric or pollen or lime and the milk of banyan leaves; blue from indigo; red from the kusam flower juice or red sandalwood; green from the leaves of the wood apple tree; white from rice powder; orange from palasha flowers. The colours are applied flat with no shading and no empty space is left. Figures from nature & mythology are adapted to suit their style. The themes & designs widely painted are of Hindu deities such as Krishna, Rama, Siva, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Sun and Moon, Tulasi plant, court scenes, wedding scenes, social happenings etc. Floral, animal and bird motifs, geometrical designs are used to fill up all the gaps. The skill is handed down the generations, and hence the traditional designs and patterns are widely maintained. Madhubani painting, as a domestic ritual activity, was unknown to the outside world until the massive Bihar earthquake of 1934. House walls had tumbled down, and the British colonial officer in Madhubani District, William G. Archer, inspecting the damage "discovered" the paintings on the newly exposed interior walls of homes. Archer - later to become the South Asia Curator at London's Victoria and Albert Museum - was stunned by the beauty of the paintings and similarities to the work of modern Western artists like Klee, Miro, and Picasso. During the 1930s he took black and white photos of some of these paintings, the earliest images we have of them. Then in a 1949 article in the Indian art journal, Marg, he brought the wall paintings to public attention. Then a second natural disaster, a severe drought in the late 1960s, prompted the All India Handicrafts Board to encourage a few women in villages around Madhubani town to transfer their ritual wall paintings to paper as an income generating project. Drawing on the region's rich visual culture, contrasting "line painting" and "color painting" traditions, and their individual talents, several of these women turned out to be superb artists. Four of them were soon representing India in cultural fairs in Europe, Russia, and the USA. Their national and international recognition prompted many other women to begin painting on paper as well. By the late 1970s, the popular success of the paintings - aesthetically distinct from other Indian painting traditions - was drawing dealers from New Delhi offering minimal prices for mass produced paintings of the most popular divinities and three familiar scenes from the Ramayana. Out of poverty, many painters complied with the dealers' demands, and produced the rapid and repetitious images known as "Madhubani paintings." Nevertheless, with the encouragement of a number of outsiders - both Indian and foreign - other artists working within the same aesthetic traditions continued to produce the highly crafted, deeply individual and increasingly diverse work, now known as "Mithila Painting." THE ETHNIC ARTS FOUNDATION in 1977, while conducting research in Madhubani, the American anthropologist, Raymond Owens, was stunned by the beauty of some of the paintings on paper. Aware that commercial dealers were grossly underpaying the artists for mass produced paintings he encouraged artists to take their time, do paintings they truly cared about, and offered to buy them for 5 to 10 times the dealers' prices. When Owens returned to the US he showed the paintings to fellow anthropologist, David Szanton, who was equally entranced by them. Together they agreed that when Owens returned to India he would continue to purchase the best paintings he could find for well over the dealers' prices, bring them to the US, mount exhibitions and sales, and return the profits to the painters, a second payment to encourage them to do their best work. Then in 1980, with several colleagues they established the Ethnic Arts Foundation (https://ethnicartsfoundation.com/about/) (EAF), a non-profit organization dedicated to sustaining the Mithila painting tradition, and most immediately, to hold the funds from sales until Owens could redistribute them to the artists on his next trip to India. After numerous trips to Madhubani, Owens died in 2000, but this system continues today. Over the years the EAF has purchased some 1800 paintings from more than 150 artists. It has organized numerous (even prize winning) exhibitions and sales in the US, South Africa, India, and even Iceland, in the process creating an international audience and market for the artists. It has sold some 900 paintings to individuals, collectors, and museums, and returned the profits - tens of thousands of dollars in rupees - to the painters whose paintings had sold. In the early 1980s, Owens also made two documentary films, "Five Painters" and the award winning "Munni," about the lives of the painters, and available from the University of Wisconsin South Asia Film Center. And in 2000, it obtained and subsidized large quantities of hand-made acid-free paper for the paintings. During a two-week visit to the region by members of the EAF in 2001/02, it became obvious that the continuation of the painting tradition was threatened by a growing generation gap. A number of middle aged and elderly painters were still active. However, most of the younger generation had new interests - computers, commerce, and urban employment - and had lost all interest in traditional activities like painting. However, intensive discussions with the artists suggested that a serious art school in Madhubani might reignite interest and train a new generation of young Mithila painters. With that in mind, and drawing on a small bequest left by Owens, the EAF established a free Mithila Art Institute (MIA) in Madhubani in 2003 to help develop the next generation of Mithila painters. "The object cannot be viewed at the exhibition"