Friday, July 5, 2013

The End of an Era: Mahasundari Devi

The story of how Mithila art reached its position as one of the most pre-eminent folk arts of India is tied to  two tragedies .  Mithila painting  is an art form practiced by  women in the eastern India region bordering Nepal and was for several centuries, a private ritualistic art done on the walls of homes and certain objects. The first was an earthquake in  1934 - William Archer , the British administrator of the region was awe-struck by the beautiful paintings revealed by the damage caused to homes by the earthquake. He came upon walls filled with beautiful imagery and was inspired to document these with the help of his wife Mildred Archer. Both of them also highlighted the existence of this art form to a world that had no idea such art existed.

The next tragedy was a severe famine in the late 1960s which forever changed the course of Mithila art. For the first time in the history of this art form, the women were encouraged to create works for sale to generate income for the families no longer able to farm their lands. The All India Handicrafts Board provided the paper and paints  and several women began transferring what had been a wall art located  in a particular context to non-contextual artworks on paper. This transition also resulted in many men  becoming artists in the tradition.

Mahasundari Devi was one of the first women to create Mithila painting on paper. She along with Ganga Devi, Sita Devi and  a few others helped to create awareness about this painting tradition. She travelled extensively in India and abroad, demonstrating how Mithila art is made and took part in several regional, national and international art exhibitions. She also help nurture the talent of many younger artists including her grand-daughter Pushpa Kumari who is one of the internationally known Madhubani artists of today . The recipient of  many national awards, Mahasundari Devi was a very humble and gentle soul and her delicate art works reflect her simplicity and creativity. She will be deeply missed by many including me as I had the privilege of meeting her and spending time with her. With her passing away, an era of Mithila painting has come to an end.

Telling Tales : Folk and Tribal Art Show at National Museums Liverpool

Three years. Six art forms in total, two per year. From across India. This was the scope of the joint India-UK collaborative project "Collecting Contemporary India" coordinated and curated by National Museums Liverpool and the Earth & Grass Workshop  from 2006 to 2009. Crisscrossing the country looking for folk arts and artists to build the collection was challenging and fulfilling for us at The Earth & Grass Workshop . Several wonderful artists and art traditions were identified and a substantial collection built up - from the Madhubani art tradition, Pushpa Kumari, Pradyumna Kumar, Mala Karn , from the West Bengal patachitra tradition, Mantu Chitrakar, Jaba Chitrakar and Sonia Chitrakar, the amazing Jogi family who have created the unique Jogi style of art,  Kalam Patua and his delicate Kalighat paintings, Paresh Rathwa with the magnificent Rathwa paintings and Gond art by Nankushia Shyam, Japani Shyam, Mayank Shyam and Mangru Uike .

The show Telling Tales display artworks from this collection and more and allows for a glimpse into Indian narratives as expressed in the myriad folk and tribal traditions in the country.

for more information and pictures
 
 
 



 

Thursday, January 3, 2013

THE ROMANCE OF THE RUNNING STITCH AT SAFFRONART

I am well and truly pleased that my initiative to promote textile arts and get away from the painting and sculpture emphasis has been very well recieved. The show at  Saffronart is both in the real and virtual world ..their  gallery at the Oberoi New Delhi has a physical show on till the 12th of January 2013 and then onwards, the works of the two young designers Ajungla Imchen and Archana Kumari will feature as part of their online collections.

Some pictures from the show and my talk




for more on the show, please visit the Saffronart blog http://blog.saffronart.com/2012/12/31/saffronart-delhi-hosts-an-exhibition-of-embroidered-textiles-from-nagaland-bihar/