The Women Painters of Mithila

by Yves Véquaud

English, French (translation)

Genres: Art

112 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[William West · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a review not of this particular volume, but of a small but rather spectacular exhibit of the vibrant art scene that developed in the Mithila region of India after a series of natural disasters that was held at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum in late 2018, entitled Painting is My Everything.

An earthquake, ensuing floods, and droughts in Mithila forced locals to try to make a living off of their traditional, domestic artistic practices, turning from decorative wall painting to paper works that could be sold on the art-market. As the Mithila school of painting is the descendent of domestic art, the majority of its most celebrated practitioners are women, many from low-caste, impoverished backgrounds.

The resulting works combine traditional subject matter with styles that are, one senses, almost subconsciously influenced by the globalized art market and such western styles as pop and abstraction. As the artists have started to reach global acclaim, their subject matter has become more cosmopolitan, turning from the great Hindu classics that informed so many centuries of Indian art to contemporary issues of gender, class, politics, and ecology, with the new generation of artists, such as Shalinee Kumari, articulating a decidedly feminist vision.