About the Collection
Hanuman rescuing Rama and Lakshmana
Mithila drawings were originally wall and floor drawings made by village women on the mud walls of typical village homes.
These drawings were periodically washed away by rains and thus had to be continuously re-done. In the 1960s, the onset of a drought caused crops to fail and left the region deep in poverty. In order to help the inhabitants fend for themselves, Baskar Kulkarni, an artist from Delhi, was sent by the All India Handicraft Board to the Madhubani district to analyze the income yielding potential of these wall and floor drawings.
He took drawings made by the locals on heavy paper back to Delhi and exposed the exquisite artwork to a receiving market. The reputation of the Mithila artists spread quickly and demands for their work grew. Once the drawings descended from walls to scrolls, the artists began to exploit the opportunity for individual artistic expression and experimentation provided by the availability of paper.
In 1977 the Master Craftsmen's Association of Mithila was established to encourage Mithila artists and support fair prices for the artwork created locally. The project was a great success. Not only did it help alleviate the poverty that had befallen the region but also brought national as well as world-wide fame and recognition to its people.
A thirty-four piece collection was gifted to Oberlin College on December 20, 2000 by Joann F. and Joseph W. Elder, the latter an Oberlin Alumnus and the recipient of the Oberlin College Alumni Association Distinguished Achievement Award. Since then, the library has added eighteen additional drawings. On the advice of Paula Richman (Dept. of Religion at Oberlin College) additional pieces have been added through purchase from the Ethnic Arts Foundation who, along with Paula Richman donated more examples. A small number of pieces are high quality scans of original art.
Written by Ed Vermue, last updated August 2026