The history of modern printmaking in the country dates back to the 16th century, with the introduction of the first printing press in India by colonial settlers in Goa.

Over the years the usage and demand of printed illustrations increased for various purposes including advertisements, books and propaganda.

The publishing and printing industry expanded exponentially in Calcutta by the 18th century under British rule. The Battala prints gained popularity in the 19th century, with Calcutta gradually becoming the printing and publishing hub under the British.

Parallely, many art schools and printing presses were set up throughout the country in places like Madras, Bombay, Jaipur and Lahore for the crafts and design-oriented artists. Artistic explorations as well as printmaking for mass reproduction were being practiced in the regions as well.

While in Calcutta, the creative practitioners adopted several artistic and intellectual approaches. In 1915, the Bichitra Club was founded by the three Tagore brothers and their peers as a studio for artistic experimentation in painting and printmaking. A primary member of the club, Gaganendranath Tagore, published his first album of lithographic prints, Adbhut Lok (The Realm of the Absurd) in 1917.

Over the subsequent years, more artists associated with the Bichitra Club, like Rabindranath Tagore, Mukul Dey, and Nandalal Bose experimented with printmaking. Kala Bhavana, Shantinikentan, helmed by Bose was one the premier institutes where different techniques of printmaking were taught and practiced by the artists. Gradually, more and more artists at the institution like Benode Behari Mukherjee, Ramkinker Baij, Ramendranath Chakravorty and KG Subramanyan experimented with and sustained their practices with intaglio and relief prints.

Around the middle of the 20th century, artists like Chittoprasad, Somnath Hore, Krishna Reddy, Amitabha Banerjee, Lalu Prasad Shaw, and Laxma Goud came to be known as pioneers of printmaking as a fine art medium. Many of them are regarded as the revolutionaries of printing techniques and mediums like etching, pulp prints, viscosity etc.

Subsequently, printmaking began to gain popularity across regions and artists like, Anupam Sud, Arun Bose, Sanat Kar, R M Palaniappan and Jyoti Bhatt began to explore the medium in depth within their practices. Many of these artists had the opportunity to study printmaking outside of India and learn the newly developed techniques and evolutions of printmaking. Considered to be premier printmakers, they developed their own languages by experimenting with the medium.

By the early 1980’s prinmaking departments were setup in most of the prominent art schools across the country. The practicing artists and printmakers like Hore, Reddy, Bhatt and Sud taught the next generation of contemporary printmakers including Ananda Moy Banerji, Jayanta Naskar, Paula Sengupta and Walter D’Souza to name a few.

This exhibition surveys the distinct practices of the artists across generations and the development of printmaking as a mere medium for reproduction for the masses to a medium of fine art in India.