• Students will view and respond to recent Mithila paintings that depict the problems faced by women in a traditional, male-dominated culture.
• Students will recognize modern trends evident in contemporary Mithila painting.
  

• One class period.

• 3.0 HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT - Understanding the Historical Contributions and Cultural Dimensions of the Visual Arts. Students analyze the role and development of the visual arts in past and present cultures throughout the world, noting human diversity as it relates to the visual arts and artists.
• 3.1 Identify contemporary artists worldwide who have achieved regional, national, or international recognition and discuss ways in which their work reflects, plays a role in, and influences present-day culture. (Advanced)
• 3.3 Identify and describe trends in the visual arts and discuss how the issues of time, place, and cultural influence are reflected in selected works.

• CD rom or Internet images of contemporary Mithila paintings
  (See resources list in bibliography)

• Teacher overview; small group guided inquiry and investigation; whole class discussion of open-ended questions.

• How are artists in India responding to national and international events?
• How are caste customs changing at the village level?
• How does the "market" affect art?
• Is this a good thing? Why or why not?

• Modernism
• market economy/forces
• representational
• narrative painting

• Teacher poses open-ended questions to whole class, such as:
  • "What kinds of modern-day personal or local scenes do Indian painters do today? Can you give any examples?"
  • "Do you think Indian artists reflect social concerns in their art?"
  • "How might we find examples of this?"
  • "Do we have anything in common with Mithila artists?"

• Students are asked to write in their journals for ten minutes about issues or topics that might be reflected in "modern" Indian painting. Afterwards the teacher should elicit the ideas students name.
• What are some difficult topics that American and European artists show in their work?

• Image Library
  

• Divide the class into four groups. Using pre-selected internet sites, CD rom images, and Ganga Devi book, ask students to find one or two paintings that seem "modern" or reflective of 20th Century
  concerns or scenes.
• Groups report to class as teacher lists the topics of the paintings. The teacher's aim should be to establish commonality between contemporary Indian art and present-day western, narrative art.
• Ask students to name similar topics from their own lives that they might depict in a drawing or painting. These might include celebrations such as weddings or birthdays. Students might mention activities they do for fun. Alternately, students may choose to focus on political topics or social issues that interest them. As the students name ideas, teacher should list them on the board.

• For homework, assign students to begin planning a drawing that shows "personally significant" about their lives today. They will plan a narrative drawing in the Mithila style. They should do a journal entry to explain how their preliminary drawing is "in the Mithila style."
  

• Journal entry plan should include topic idea for Mithila painting along with a written rationale for why it is personally important.

UNIT CONTENTS

• Overview
• Background
• Bibliography
• Image Library