[This painting is made by famous artist and cartoonist Mahendra Prasad]
[This piece of article is provided by Ms. SONAM DHINGRA who is a prominent art teacher at City Vocational Public School, Meerut, by profession and an artist herself. She has done in-depth research on indian arts and crafts.]
When Mithila painting was first transferred to paper for sale in the late 1960s, the previously unsigned if not quite anonymous "ritual art," was popularly recast as "folk art." For many painters today these two categories still seem accurate. But Mithila has also been generating numerous highly individuated self-conscious artists. As a result - and unlike most "traditional" arts of India - the styles and subjects of Mithila painting have evolved and multiplied dramatically. Displaying an extraordinary vitality, painters of different backgrounds have drawn on their own caste traditions, interaction with outsiders,