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Shalini Priyadarshiny

A walk through the life of a rural artist: Pushpa Kumari

Introduction


It's once in a while when you get fascinated by your own inheritance and you proceed to pursue the same but in your own method. Today, I will be telling you the amazing story of one of the finest Madhubani painting artists in the country, Pushpa Kumari.


Madhubani painting artists, Pushpa Kumari.

Dating from at least the fourteenth century, Madhubani paintings (also known as Mithila paintings) is an ancient art.

The richly fertile land of Mithila region has a special place in mythological stories. It's believed to be the birthplace of Mata Sita.

The wholesomeness in Pushpa Kumari 's work shows her calibre and passion.


Pushpa Kumari: a stalwart of Madhubani paintings


Born in 1969, in Ranti, Madhubani Bihar, Pushpa Kumari spent her childhood with her maternal grandmother, Mahasundari Devi, a renowned Madhubani artist, and Padma Shri awardee.

The famine of Bihar in 1966-67 propelled people of Mithila villages to take up the art for their livelihoods and Mahasundari Devi was one of them.

At the age of just 10, Pushpa Kumari got inspiration from her grandmother and took up art.




Prakriti and Purush: eternal male and female elements, here portrayed as primordial lovers
Prakriti and Purush: eternal male and female elements, here portrayed as primordial lovers

In the remote villages of Bihar where sources of education and knowledge was storytelling by elders and whatever Pushpa Kumari heard from her grandmother, she tried to induce that in her art.

The life story of Pushpa Kumari is like other Madhubani paintings artists, most of them are not even properly educated but the thirst for the art and the compulsion of excellence in the art made them capable of breaking out all the stereotypes.



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Genre of Pushpa Kumari's Art


Prakriti, the eternal female element, here, seated on Earth (creation and fecundity intertwined and inseparable)
Prakriti, the eternal female element, here, seated on Earth (creation and fecundity intertwined and inseparable)

Pushpa Kumari adopted new avenues, and new stances into the art that was and is still so deep-rooted, that her grandmother used to captivate just the epic and mythological stories.

She moved beyond mass producing the same mythological themes and this led to contemporary Madhubani art. Not everyone can break the traditional barriers but Pushpa Kumari showed perseverance towards her perception of giving an all new transformation to the art.

Very soon, Pushpa Kumari started getting her work accepted and appreciated by art enthusiasts of the world. Her rendition to show the female section of society as empowered entities won her accolades.


Contribution and Recognition


Female Foeticide: a malpractice that we have failed to get over even after so many years
Female Foeticide: a malpractice that we have failed to get over even after so many years

Pushpa Kumari is still contributing a lot to the art that she got as an inheritance.

Her brilliance in impersonating the art is so impeccable and heart-touching.


The marriage of modernity and antiquity in the works of Pushpa Kumari is unparalleled.


Her art ' JOY OF LIVING ' is currently being displayed at JC Decaux bus shelters in New York, Chicago, and Boston.


Her works have been displayed at the Queensland art gallery, Modern Art, and the National Museum, Liverpool.




The clarity in her thoughts to encapsulate the contemporary social issues in her paintings is the reason that makes her paintings unique and exceptional.

More about Pushpa Kumari:


Author and Editor: Shalini Priyadarshiny

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