About Us

MITHILA PAINTING: A BRIEF HISTORY

Mithila painting, as a domestic ritual activity, was unknown to the outside world until the massive Bihar earthquake of 1934. House walls had tumbled down, and the British colonial officer in Madhubani District, William G. Archer, inspecting the damage "discovered" the paintings on the newly exposed interior walls of homes. Archer - later to become the South Asia Curator at London's Victoria and Albert Museum - was stunned by the beauty of the paintings and similarities to the work of modern Western artists like Klee, Miro, and Picasso. During the 1930s he took black and white photos of some of these paintings, the earliest images we have of them. Then in a 1949 article in the Indian art journal, Marg, he brought the wall paintings to public attention.

MITHILA PAINTING: A BRIEF HISTORY

Then a second natural disaster, a severe draught in the late 1960s, prompted the All India Handicrafts Board to encourage a few upper caste women in villages around Madhubani town to transfer their ritual wall paintings to paper as an income generating project. Drawing on the region's rich visual culture, contrasting "line painting" and "color painting" traditions, and their individual talents, several of these women turned out to be superb artists. Four of them were soon representing India in cultural fairs in Europe, Russia, and the USA. Their national and international recognition prompted many other women from many other castes - including harijans or dalits, the ex-"untouchables" - to begin painting on paper as well.

By the late 1970s, the popular success of the paintings - aesthetically distinct from other Indian painting traditions - was drawing dealers from New Delhi offering minimal prices for mass produced paintings of the most popular divinities and three familiar scenes from the Ramayana. Out of poverty, many painters complied with the dealers' demands, and produced the rapid and repetitious images known as "Madhubani paintings." Nevertheless, with the encouragement of a number of outsiders - both Indian and foreign - other artists working within the same aesthetic traditions continued to produce the highly crafted, deeply individual and increasingly diverse work, now known as "Mithila Painting."

Mithila had long been famous in India for its rich culture and numerous poets, scholars, and theologians - all men. For women, it has been a deeply conservative society, and until painting on paper began 40+ years ago, most women were confined to their homes and limited to household chores, child rearing, managing family rituals, and ritual wall painting.

Painting on paper for sale has changed this dramatically. Aside from generating important new family income, individual women have gained local, national, and even international recognition. Artists are being invited to exhibitions across India, and to Europe, the United States, and Japan - no longer as "folk artists," but now as "contemporary artists." Where once their paintings were "anonymous," now they are proudly signed. Along with economic success, opportunities for travel, education, radio, and now television are expanding women's consciousness and engagement with the multiple worlds around them. Gender relations are shifting. A few men continue to paint within what is still defined as "a women's tradition," but their work tends to be personal and anodyne. In contrast, the women's paintings are increasingly socially charged, critical, and edgy.

These changes have provoked an argument in Mithila and beyond between cultural conservatives who claim that commercialization and the loss of its ritual functions has debased Mithila painting, versus those who see Mithila Painting as a contemporary art form rooted in the expanding experience, concerns, and freedoms of Mithila's women. Viewers of Mithila Painting: The Evolution of an Art Form are encouraged to form their own judgments.

Service 2

Our 7 days return policy

You may return most new, unopened items within 7 days of delivery for a full refund. We'll pay the return shipping costs if the return is a result of our error (you received an incorrect or defective item, etc.)

You should expect to receive your refund within four weeks of giving your package to the return shipper, however, in many cases you will receive a refund more quickly. This time period includes the transit time for us to receive your return from the shipper (5 to 10 business days), the time it takes us to process your return once we receive it (3 to 5 business days), and the time it takes your bank to process our refund request (5 to 10 business days).

If you need to return an item, simply login to your account, view the order using the "Complete Orders" link under the My Account menu and click the Return Item(s) button. You also need to upload the image of product while stating the reason for returning. We'll notify you via e-mail of your refund once we've received and processed the returned item.

Defective Products

If any product is found defective in the package, contact the customer support right away through email at ‘ or update the return status from your account on www.gallerist.in. Please also click the photographs of the defective product and upload with stating the reason for return. We will arrange a pick up from your place and upon receiving the product, we will inspect it and make sure that it is exchanged and delivered to you in pristine condition or a full refund will be made as per terms and conditions.

Please note that the exchange of products is subjected to the availability of the products at the time of returning the product.

Please note: in case of a defective product received at your end, you must notify www… within 24-48 hours.

Note that some special rules pertaining to promotional offers might take priority over the www.gallerist.in 14 days Returns Policy

For any kind of further queries, please feel free to contact our customer care

Shipping & packaging

Shipping in India

We offer free shipping for both rolled and framed paintings all over India. We only work with reputed courier partners like Bluedart and FedEx for domestic deliveries. Delivery timeframe is mentioned in the painting details. To confirm if your location is serviceable, you can enter your pin-code on below link

Serviceable Pincodes of India

If your Pincode is not seen in above list, you can contact us first and we will let you know the nearest Bluedart / FedEx counter where you can self-pick the artwork from. We will arrange to hold your shipments at those locations. You can also try for alternate addresses if necessary.

We also arrange for special home deliveries to remote locations with further charges. Please connect to our customer care for further information.

Shipping outside India

We ship to all countries of the world. Delivery time for regular destinations like USA, Canada, UK, Australia, All of Europe, Malaysia, Singapore, Gulf is around 3-5 days more than the mentioned timeframe in painting details. For other destinations it might take around 7-10 days more. We always strive to deliver earlier than what is mentioned.

We charge a flat shipping fee of $20 per painting. For customized paintings in bigger sizes we will provide shipping quote based on the same.

International customers must note that our costs do not cover Custom Clearance Fees and Custom Duties. If applicable, these charges would be collected by the courier partner at the time of delivery, or they might connect to you before delivery, for payments. These charges vary from country to country and subject to frequent changes - hence we can't give you an estimate of the same. However these are quite nominal and shouldn't break the bank. As we usually use FedEx for international deliveries you can connect to their customer care in your country and take further information.

Packaging

We process military grade packaging for all our shipments, so that they could absorb jerks and stack weight in the transit, - and reach you in safe and sound condition. Painting rolls are put in hard protective tubes and sealed at ends. We make custom 25mm to 40mm thick walled (depending on size) thermocol boxes for each frame, which is again wrapped with 6-8 layers of double layered bubble sheets. Gift wrapping is also available on request for free.

In rare case, if any of the artwork is lost or damaged in transit - we will happily offer you refunds. If the frame is delivered damaged we will offer full refund of framing charges.

Service 3

You cannot cancel the order if it is delivered to you, in such case you need follow the process of returning the product.

In case the item you have ordered has been shipped but has not yet been delivered to you, you may still cancel the order online. Your refund will be processed once we receive the originally ordered item back from the courier.

You can cancel your order online before the product is shipped. We ensure you to refund the entire amount.
Cancellation of Order

Currently we do not take orders for COD, you need to pay the price through our secured payment gateways while making any purchase.
COD (Cash On Delivery)

If your account has been debited after a payment failure, it is normally rolled back to your account within 7 business days. You can email us on  with your order number for any clarification on the same.

In case of a payment failure, please retry ensuring that information passed on to payment gateway is accurate i.e. account details, billing address, password (for net banking), etc.  Kindly also check if your Internet connection has been disrupted in the process.

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There are no hidden charges. You pay only the amount that you see in your order summary at the time of check out.

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