“I am an artist, but I wasn’t always one.” This is how Mithila artist Dulari Devi begins the account of a life that moves from extreme poverty and constant menial labor to that of an accomplished and recognized painter. Following My Paint Brush is her story told in thirty two pages of colorful, autobiographical drawings accompanied by a few sentences that give voice to her images. Published by Tara Books with their usual high quality, the book is in hardcover with luminous white pages and crisp colors that show Dulari’s work to good effect.
In the first painting we see Dulari as a little girl accompanying her mother to work in the rice fields. Note the clean lines of her figures and the nearly semi-circular billow of the saris. Although a standard way or representing the sari in Mithila art, Dulari seems to make it a trademark. Perhaps because she often leaves the backgound empty, as in these drawings, the curve of the sari is more prominent than it otherwise would be.
As she recounts in the book, her unhappiness with her life began to change when she started to visualize scenes that she passed everyday as paintings. These images stayed with her during the day and relieved some of the daily drudgery. Then came a stroke of enormous good fortune. She began working as a maid in the home of a successful Mithila artist, Mahasundari Devi. Facinated by the paintings, she asked if she also could learn how to paint. That was the beginning of her new life.
The Ice Cream Man is one of those ordinary scenes that Dulari used to imagine as a painting. This is a happy piece as befits its subject but note the careful, formal structure that supports the simple scene of children buying ice cream. While the tree in the center divides the drawing in two and separates the children on one side from the ice cream man on the other, a canopy of branches with green and yellow leaves interspersed with red berries spreads over and encompasses the entire scene. On each side of the painting a leafy branch reaches down just enough to give a gentle caress to the outside figures and bring them all into the fold.
In addition to her everyday, rural scenes, Dulari is also well known as a painter of Ganesh images. Here is a Ganesh painting from 2010 now in a private collection.
The Ganesh is quite a change from Dulari’s quiet paintings of everyday village life with their realistic but prosaic colors. Here the intense, intricate patterns and color, on every inch of canvas, overloads our senses. At first only the eyes are clearly visible while all else is an almost psychadelic profusion of color and pattern. As we begin to separate shape from pattern, Ganesh’s full form fills the entire canvas while decorative foliage occupies any remaining space. This is not a painting of what Dulari sees daily in her village of Ranti. No longer bound to record what is actually there, she gives free reign to her imagination and with exuberance depicts this most favorite of gods.
Here is a photo from 2010 in the home of Mahasundari Devi where Dulari Devi learned to paint.
From the left: Bibha Das, Mahasundari Devi, Dulari Devi, Vibha Jha.
Both Bibha Das and Mahasundari Devi have received national recognition as artists. Dulari Devi is sure to receive that honor soon. Vibha Jah is with the Ethnic Arts Foundation.
Below is one of many decorative murals painted by Dulari in her employer’s home. Note the same clean forms – and those ballooning semicircular saris.
I first met Dulari Devi in January of 2010. She had recently finished the illustrations for Following My Paint Brush and was still working as a maid. Her art was gaining recognition and her hope was that soon she would be able to paint full time. I saw her again a year later. She said she was no longer working as a maid. She had become a full time artist.
Following My Paint Brush is available in the US. Amazon carries it at $13.65. A great stocking stuffer for yourself or as a gift.
