Description

With the Sun God in the centre, this Madhubani painting is embellished with a pattern of concentric circles of tattoo motifs of birds and animals.

History

Madhubani painting originated in a small village, known as Maithili, of the Bihar state of India. Initially, the womenfolk of the village drew the paintings on the walls of their home, as an illustration of their thoughts, hopes and dreams. With time, the paintings started becoming a part of festivities and special events, like marriage. In the last fifty years or so, Madhubani paintings have crossed traditional boundaries and started reaching connoisseurs of art, both at the national as well as the international level. The traditional base of freshly plastered mud wall of huts has now been replaced by cloth, handmade paper and canvas. Since the paintings have been confined to a limited geographical range, the themes as well as the style are, more or less, the same.

Skills

The Madhubani painter must have deep concentration and skill in freehand drawing to create intricate designs without any pencil outlines. A flair for using colours and a sense of balance and symmetry are also required to create attractive paintings.

Aesthetics

There is perfect symmetry in this painting with fine lines. There is no shading in the application of colors. A double line is drawn for outlines and the gap is filled with either cross or straight tiny lines. The linear Maithili paintings do not even require application of colors; only the outlines are drawn. Right proportion is significant which is brought out in the geometric designs that are drawn with a great degree of accuracy.

Material

Natural colours on handmade paper. The brush used for Madhubani paintings of Bihar is usually made of cotton, wrapped around a bamboo stick. The artists prepare the colors that are used for the paintings from natural sources. Black color is made by adding soot to cow dung; yellow from combining turmeric (or pollen or lime) with 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 and orange from palasha flowers.

Care

Protect from dust and moisture.