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The Asian Age The Resource Centre
Date: 28/05/2015 Page No: 15 Location: Main Circulation: 170000 Edition: Mumbai
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Contemporary artists work to revive Madhubani paintings meanwhile
mmm s
One of the oldest forms of
folk art in Bihar,
Madhubani painting is a
unique style of art originating
in northeast India
Madhubani art or Mithila painting is no dying craft but
an area largely remaining unattended, says art curator Shivangi Jha, who recently hosted a showcase of Madhubani art and lifestyle at Kolkata's Emami Chisel Art gallery. "I have curated such an exhibition once before in Delhi only last November at the India Habitat Centre," she adds. Belonging to the region from where the Madhubani art emanates, the art-patron has hence been in thorough touch with the exquisite art and its skilled artisans for long. "See, its vulnerability lies in the cavity of proper platforms to propagate its eye-grabbing beauty and rich quality. But surprisingly, the interest among several artists who still propound and practise this art has never subsided. They still contribute to its revival as an ethnic artform which boasts of a centuries-old
historical legacy behind it. Sadly enough, owing to dearth of publicity and diversifying lucrative avenues, the art faces a hindrance on its path of transfer to the next generation level, if not a threat of extinction," claims Ms Jha.
One of the oldest forms of folk art in the Indian province of Bihar, Madhubani painting is a unique style of art originating in the North-Eastern part of India and the adjoining parts of Terai in Nepal. Tools like slender brushes with thin bristles, fingers, natural dyes, twigs, nib-pens and matchsticks are applied to create a lovely collection of paintings with enigmatic expressions. Themes vary from contemporary issues, mythological panels to geometric patterns. Famous for depicting numerous festivals and auspicious occasions like Kali Puja, Durga Puja, Holi, Surya Shasti, Upanaya-nam, birth, marriage and other fiestas or social dos, a piece of Madhubani painting is traditionally made using solid natural shades for bharni (filling in technique) and tones for delineating delicate fine lines via a method called kachni (hatching) where colours are seldom used.
Richa Agarwal, director, Emami Chisel Art said: "This conventionally beautiful artform enjoys a wide acclaim not only within a few parts of India but also among the international patrons of art. Representing the Indian heritage in its true blue light, the magical Madhubani opens up a prized chapter of swadeshi, domestic art that needs to be restored and re-instated to its former pride of glory."
The participating artists on the venue were a talented lot. Accomplished names like Sonam Jha, Urmila
Devi, Dr Rani Jha, Shravan Paswan and Saurav Nath Jha took part in the colourful affair. An exhibition-cum-sale of 88 paintings by four great artists came in at a range of ?200 to ?l,50,000 and were lapped up by both foreigners and Indians alike who took a keen interest in the display and purchased a few artworks too. The dimensions of the specimens differed between a miniature 6x6 inches and a standard size 22 x 30 inches, varying in vertical and horizontal frames. Although the traditional method is to paint on handmade paper but cloths are also used. Many contemporary artists like Sonam Jha employ bamboo nips known as seekh in Hindi. "Natural colours are fine
but it does have its own demerit as well. For it starts fading away after a point. It tends to lose lustre after sometime and is not sustainable for long. So I import acrylic tints, metallic colours and artificial pigments to immortalise the intricate motifs," shares Sonam Jha, who is the elder sister of curator Shivangi Jha. An avid art-watcher would vouch for the fact that Sonam's USP lies in her experimental efforts with the mesmeric maze of Madhubani and its vibrant palette. She draws inspiration from the forest themes of foliage, flora and the fauna. Involving techniques of aripan which appears asrangoli designs, Sonam's message is to convey the larger audience that "Madhubani is a propitious object and not a mere decorative art on the floor. It is a grand emblem of home-grown Mithila culture."
Exponents observe that emerging from the households of rural agrarian sector in the hands of womenfolk, this "art of interior
Natkhat Kanha and his pranks by Dr Rani Jha; Shravan Paswan's Shiva Parvati (right)
courtyards" gradually found its way to the external world through "paintings of holy places as an attractive adornment". "There is always a mention of an episode in the epic of The Ramayana that when Sita, the daughter of King Janaka of Nepal was about to be wedded to Lord Rama, then the affectionate father had ordered his kingdom to decorate the entire town with embellished items. And thus, Madhubani which can be etymological-ly unscrambled as 'forest or woods of honey', soared to its first visible prominence on earth," says Shivangi. "But even before this mythological connotation was cited, Madhubani had always actually existed in this corner in complete anonymity. I think from this big function of the great regal nuptial, it
struck people's minds that instead of unabashedly splurging on gold, flowers and precious stones, it is ideal to indulge in the forgotten, neglected native arts of one's own region," she adds.
There is also a religious angle added to women's fascination for the craft. It is believed that in order to be in close contact with god, women had initially commenced painting the images of idols and deities. However, apart from filling up the canvases with commonest topics like raasleela where Lord Krishna and his beloved Radha get engaged in a playful, romantic rendezvous with gopis (cow-herd girls) and their amative feelings and expressions are conjured up at the tip of artists' paintbrush, modern-day painters like Shravan
Paswan is inclined towards voicing his comments on contemporary social evils like dowry and gender biases. His works echo the atrocities of current times or those that are in process of changing.
Talented young artist Saurav Nath Jha's WhatsApp status message reads: "Life is an art. Dark shades of failure and glowing effects of success make it beautiful." Having been dabbling in the art of Madhubani for almost 10 years, Saurav likes adopting a mix of both unorthodox and traditional methods. Treating his paintings with fabric hues "as they look more appealing to the eye", the painter who is still but a student, also claims that "natural chromes have their own beauty which is obtained from sources like different types of flowers
and leaves." "You know, every artist has his own interpretative designs to put forth and sell. I also move to and fro between new-age bizarre motifs and the age-old Mithila painting themes," he explains. As a result, adherence to kohbar and raas keep intermittently cropping up in his works. To those not in the loop, the dominant theme of a kohbar picture is pond life, fille g organisms and abundance of procreative powers. The painting seeks to insure fertility of the bride and the groom who, as and when a seed is dropped into a pond, should produce offspring copiously. A paint-edkohbar ghar therefore refers to the nuptial chamber or a private room for
the newly-weds. The water-portraits sprouting out of the Mother Nature reflect the presence of teeming ponds in and around Mithila, bursting at the seams with blooming lotuses, water-lilies and a menagerie of aquatic life.
"Generally, I like to do paintings on a new theme and don't stick to a blind copy-paste. Mythological aspects stray into my artwork only when I take orders for the same. I just draw whatever my mind instructs me. For example, if I start making a tree of life, I keep adding another theme to it which relevantly flows in. For instance, women-issues. It shouldn't look an odd one out like a sore thumb," he concludes.
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