Art talks a lot about the culture and tradition of the place from where it originates. At a workshop organised by 'Hands On Studios', Chaturanan and Ratneshwar Jha, traditional Madhubani artists from Bihar, are in Pune to precisely showcase the art from their land and to share their expertise with others. The father-son duo are conducting Madhubani painting workshops over the next few days.
A 2000 plus-year-old folk art, Madhubani paintings, which belong to the Mithila region in Bihar, are said to date back to the time of Ramayana, when King Janak asked an artist to capture his daughter Sita’s wedding to Ram. “The paintings in those days were created on the walls and floors of homes and that too by women during special occasions and festivals,” says the senior Jha, Chaturanan.
A self-taught Madhubani artist, Chaturanan says, “I believe that the art I have been creating is god’s way of talking to me and through me.” He mentions that he has not taken any professional course in painting but picked up the art as a child merely by observing his grandmother who would paint on the walls and floors of their village home. He says several years ago Madhubani paintings were done using fingers and twigs whereas nowadays pen nibs and paintbrushes are used.
The speciality of Madhubani art is that there is absolutely no blank space left in the painting. Also, natural dyes made from vegetables, fruits and flowers are used in the artwork. The paintings depict scenes of wedding rituals, religious rituals, festivals from mythology. These paintings include natural elements like fish, parrots, elephants, trees, to name a few.
“The paintings are very intricate and time consuming because of the tiny details that need to be made with a lot of precision,” says Chaturanan. He says that every artist has a different point of view which gives them their individual style, be it in terms of strokes or the motifs.
Ratneshwar says that people who truly know art and appreciate it recognise its true value and are ready to pay for it because they know the effort that goes behind making one Madhubani painting. Since these are not digitally made, each painting is one of a kind and people looking for unique art are more inclined towards buying it from artists.
“Communication and social media tools have become an important part of promoting Madhubani as well,” says the younger Jha mentioning that the awareness of Madhubani art has grown and people are willing to learn more about it.
Komal Dawkhare, a workshop participant, says, “This is an amazing opportunity for me to learn from artists who have been doing this for a very long time.” She believes she is really lucky because she is getting to interact with artists who belong to the place from where Madhubani originated.
Madhubani is very popular on the home décor front in the form of prints for lamps, coasters, crockery and, most importantly, wall hangings. “Besides, there is a heavy demand from the textile industry for Madhubani art nowadays,” says Ratneshwar. The intricate art can be found on saree borders, dupattas, kurtis, to name a few.
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The workshops are being held from December 4-6, 10.30 am-1.30 pm and 3.30-6.30 pm at Tolee, Parmar Classic, Synagogue Street, Camp, and from December 8-10 at Doodle Tales Studio, Artique, Baner-Pancard Club Road, 10.30 am-1.30 pm, and at Monalisa Kalagram, Pingale Farms, Koregaon Park, 4 to 7 pm
