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Women Painters of Mithila: A Quest for Identity
Abstract
The region of Mithila has become synonymous with the beautiful and vibrant Madhubani paintings which are very much coveted by the connoisseurs of art the world over. The women from Mithila have been making these paintings and it is admirable that they have been able to carve out a space and name for themselves amidst the patriarchal set-up of society. Indeed, there is no other parallel anywhere else in the world of a folk-painting being mastered exclusively by women. The progressive commercialization of this art has resulted in the corrosion of this pristine variety of art - in form as well as content. Except a miniscule number of artists, economically the plight of the vast majority of these women painters has remained quite miserable who are forced to sell their artistic pieces for a pittance while a huge profit is earned by the middlemen. The commodification and commercialization of this traditional art form has caused much alarm to the anthropologists, art historians and connoisseurs of art who are sensitive to the cultural origins and solemnity of these art forms, and also made them empathetic to the economic deprivation of the women artists who produce them. These women artists are undermined by the patriarchal social structures of the community and family and also by the market that expropriates traditional knowledge and cultural expressions.
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