Print making: Story and History - Contd...
 Nandalal Bose also had close association with the activities of the ‘Vichitra Club’. Nandalal left Kolkata and took over the charge of newly started Kala Bhavan. During 1920s several foreign artists visited Kala Bhavan and demonstrated practical knowledge and contemporary art practice of their countries. By this first hand knowledge of various methods and materials and contemporary art theory the artists of Santiniketan were exposed to new enthusiasm. During this period a few foreign artists demonstrated the art of print making at Kala Bhavan. Artists gradually came to know the contemporary graphic art of the world. A new era began. To create intense interest in printmaking during this period, the credit goes to Ramendranath Chakravorty, Manindra Bhusan Gupta, Binode Behari Mukherjee, Ramkinkar Baij and Biswarup Bose. They experimented and created a number of woodcuts, linocuts and intaglio during 1930s and 40s and published individual folio of lino and wood cut prints. Apart from the Printing activities of Kala Bhavan during 1940s and 50s, artists like F.H. Raulfdar (Madras-Mangalore), Samarendranath Gupta (Lahore), Sudhir ranjan Khastgir (Dehradun), Y. K. Sukla (Bombay-Ahmedabad), L. M. Sen (Lucknow), Murlidhar Tali (Kolkata-Bhubaneswar), Sofiuddin Ahmad (Kolkata-Dacca), Haren Das (Kolkata), Adinath Mukherjee (Kolkata), Santosh Kumar Banerjee (Lucknow), Binod Raut Roy (Santiniketan-Bhubaneswar), Chitra Prasad Bhattacheryee (Kolkata -Bombay), Gunen Ganguli (New Delhi), Jivan Adalja (New Delhi) contributed immensely. By this time, we see an important change in the approach towards Graphic Art. The Indian artists were no longer concerned with only reproductive value; in fact they concentrated more in doing an absolute work by itself, which could stand as an independant work of art.
Although Printmaking started as a creative expression amongst Indian artists since 1920s, it did not flourish thoroughly due to lack of technical know how and also due to unavailability of related materials from the local markets. Even Graphic art was looked as a secondary medium. All these vital problems did not allow much mobility and progress towards Printmaking before 1960s.
Before 1960’s all printed pictures either done for commercial and illustrating purposes or created for artistic activities as display prints altogether were called ‘Graphic Art’. The purpose and attitude of each sector of prints are distinctively different from each other. To separate them, it was necessary to coin a new term. More or less from 1965 onwards the Printmaking Council of America restricted the definition of original artistic prints to be called Printmaking and the artist creator thus called ‘Printmaker’. And on the other hand prints created for non-artistic purpose be named as ‘Graphic Art’. Gradually the term 'Printmaking' has been unanimously accepted for artistic hand-done prints, while the commercial printing activities followed original title ‘Graphics’. The Print-Making Council of America made the following definitions of an original print:
1. The artist will create the master image in or upon the plate, wood, stone or such other material for the purpose of creating prints.
2. As it is observed that previously engraved prints were generally made with the help of expert technicians who did master block, copying the original drawing of the artists. To avoid this, the council made the following restriction. The artist or the pursuant will make the print to his direction. The artist will process the block and that the print will also be taken by the artist.
3. The final print is to be approved and also duly signed by the artist. The artist must mention the edition number and the nature of edition. Unsigned prints will be considered less valuable than signed impressions.
4. If the prints are made for an edition of more than ten for sale, the artist must produce one cancellation print by a cross mark on or upon the block to guard against further edition.
5. The council also made it clear that these restrictions are not necessarily applicable to prints made before 1930. The guideline laid down by the council more or less has been accepted among the prints makers, artists, art critic, art historian, art collectors and art connoisseurs in general.
But recently entering into the new concept of postmodern doctrine of art practice all over the globe, the practice of printmaking also has taken a different shape. With the new concept and language of recent printmaking scenario the guideline of artistic prints has gradually changed. At present it is open to individual artist-printmaker to follow ones own right and accordingly artists have their own choice to follow the guideline or not to follow or alter it. It was 1960s onwards that the boost of contemporary prints made a special mark on the art practice.
One of the pioneers in this field is Krishna Reddy. During this period, an artist who evoked positive interest amongst his contemporaries is Somnath Hore. He did a few wood engravings while he was a student of the Government College of Art, Calcutta and this time onwards, with continuous research in the field of practical Printmaking he gained mastery over various Printing processes, such as multicolor intaglio printing, lithography and even relief printing. The example of Somnath's hand-done artistic prints [his legendary white-on-white of the ‘Wound’ series is a part of this exhibition] not only established him as a renowned Print-maker of today but also inspired confidence among his contemporaries to produce quality prints with the limited resources available. An important printmaker who deserves a mention is Kanwal Krishna, who had his early training in painting from the Government Art College, Calcutta, went to Europe in 1951. In 1953 in Paris, under the guidance of William Hayter he learnt the newly developed intaglio printing technique. In 1955 he came back to India and settled in Delhi. During 1957 he set-up his own press and started doing multicolor intaglio prints of colographic process. Kanwal’s prints created a sensation among his contemporaries because of its charismatic quality through highly embossed surfaces and luminous colours.
K.G.Subramanyan, the noted artist who could traverse in various methods and materials did a number of serigraphy as single sheet display prints and several illustrated children books mostly done in Baroda. Even Subramanyan have a wide range of lithographic prints and folio done in Santiniketan. By and large, the initiation of creating enthusiasm within the frame workgroup activities could be seen in the members' of the society of contemporary artists. The group was founded in 1960 in Kolkata. Sanat Kar, Lalu Prosad Shaw and Amitava Banerjee are active founder members. Sanat Kar experimented with intaglio printing and went further to take prints from nontraditional intaglio matrices like engraved wooden block and other synthetic surfaces. One of the prominent Print-makers of 60s and 70s was Jyoti Bhatt, who had his training from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda between 1950 and 59. Jyoti Bhatt went to U.S.A. and learnt the technique of Intaglio in Pratt Graphic Center in New York. On returning to India in 1966, he devoted himself completely to Printmaking and created a working atmosphere in Baroda.
Another printmaker who has an outstanding contribution is Hyderabad based artist K. Laxma Gaud. Laxma studied at Baroda under masters like K G Subramanyam and has played an important role as a printmaker especially in the field of etching and aquatints.
'Group-8', which was founded in 1968 in New Delhi needs special mention. The Group-8, which is an association of working artists devoted to Print-Making lead by Jagmohan Chopra conducted a few programmes to popularize Printmaking. The first exhibition of all-India prints of Group 8 took place in New Delhi in 1965 and of the most significant women artists of that generation is Anupam Sud who has used the intaglio process in all its variations-etching, dry point, combining it with the viscosity process and wiping technology. Restraint is the keynote of her work. While her sympathies and concerns are often feminist, a recurring theme in her work is the universal human predicament.
By and large the popularity of printmaking among contemporaries has gained through Institutional system. One of the renowned centers is the Department of Printmaking, Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan. The department has continuously been enriched by individual and collective efforts of Biswarup Bose, late Somnath Hore, Sanat Kar, Nirmalendu Das, Pinaki Barua and recently Salil Sahni. Young turks like Vibha Galhotra and Akshaye Agrawal are alumnus of the same institution. The Department of Graphics, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda, has always been an active center of printmaking spearheaded by P.D. Dhumal, Rini Dhumal, Jayakumar and Vijay Bagodi. Alumnus of the same department Vrindavan Solanki, Mimi Radhakrishnan, Walter D’Souza, Kavita Shah and Naina Dalal are veterans in the field; Prakash, Satish Sholapur and Md. Rizwan, [based in Bangalore now] Viraj Naik, [Presently concentrating on his drawings and paintings in Goa], Ravi Kashi, [a successful painter he experiments with the medium of printmaking breaking conventional norms often producing astonishing results] Niyeti Chadha [currently working at the Pratt Graphic Centre, Manhattan] are young contemporaries active in this field. Another such center within Institutional system is the department of Graphic Art, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata headed by Hare Krishna Bag, Parag Roy and Paula Sengupta. The Calcutta printmaking scene is active with printmakers like Atin Basak [a successful painter], Lina Ghosh, Jayant Naskar and youngsters like Baishakhi, Rajesh Deb amongst others. Paula’s choice of printmaking as a medium for creating art is conducive to her image-making tendencies. Her interest in textiles and embroidery, the enormous tactile possibilities and the inimitable surfaces that printmaking is capable of, attracted her to the practice of printmaking. She learnt to use the traditional letter-press, a method of printing that evoked the nostalgia of handcrafted books.
Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal also played a positive role to promote contemporary printmaking. In the complex they have a centre for printmaking, which provides all facilities for print makers. Besides the practical training and workshop, they organize prestigious exhibition of national and international prints. Private organizations like Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad; Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi; Cholamandal Artists village, Madras; Prof. Salve’s workshop, Mumbai; Devraj’s studio, New Delhi are well known for Printmaking activities.
The names of Zarina Hashmi, R. B. Bhaskaran, Rm. Palaniappam, V. Nagdas, Siddhartha Ghosh and Debraj and Pratibha Dakoji also shine best in the field of print making. The history of Indian creative printmaking which has commenced from the middle of the nineteen twenties crossed a long way. The history of about eighty years have various ups and downs and has been enriched by several streams of ingenious sources. Some personal contribution, experiments and a few collective efforts have developed the printmaking and thus the horizon of printmaking has been expanded.
Unlike the group activities of the ‘Group-8’ to popularize the medium among the artists, art lovers and critics in India the member of the ‘Indian printmakers Guild’ which was founded in1990, has successfully taken leadership to project Print making. The members of the group are Ananda Moy Banerji, Bula Bhattacharya, Dattatraya Apte, Jayant Gajera, Kavita Nayar, K.R. Subbanna, Kanchan Chander, Moti Zharotia. Shukla Sawant, Sushanta Guha, Sukhvinder Singh, Subba Ghosh. They are devoted to printmaking and besides their own work they also schedule programmes to project the printmaking into greater platform. This is a working artists group formed exclusively for making prints.
At this moment, here in India, Indian printmakers are normally working with the following major areas: Relief, Intaglio, planography and Serigraphy. The recent entry into the field of Indian Printmaking is Digitography and mixed media as we see in recent experiments by Ghulam Sheikh, Ravi Kashi, Jyoti Bhatt, Shukla Sawant amongst others.
Entering into the new age of Computer graphics with the help of different software’s, scanners, digitizer and stylus the concept of printmaking has changed. The post-modern doctrine of art practice has also changed the attitude of printmaking. These days we are no longer restricted by the norms laid down and accepted earlier. Making a print has already crossed its classical identity to be a pure print only. Rather a new concept has developed to see printmaking with a combination of other allied mediums. Even the prints are pulled on various surfaces such as cloth, plastic, wood, aluminum foil etc instead of paper. Mixing, re-mixing various methods and materials with the printed image has become a new language of the new era.
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