Printed tales of Indian art

Hyderabad: In continuation of the noteworthy show at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, “Celebrating Indigenous Printmaking- Graphic Prints,” and its historical importance I focus on nationalist and post-colonial interventions represented in the show.

The formation of the Bichitra Club, under the aegis of the Tagores and Mukul Chandra Dey, started the journey of print making, specially woodcuts and lithography, towards being considered an original and creative art media. The tradition continued as an art practice, and pedagogic engagement at Shantiniketan from its inception onwards with Nandlal Bose and Benod Behari Mukherjee both moving away from Eurocentric techniques to experiment with the robust woodcut tradition from China and Japan.

But the full scope and scale of print making, not only as art but as a powerful medium for agitation and propaganda purposes, was exploited by Chittaprosad and Somnath Hore.  Chittoprasad used its potential for multiple and inexpensive prints to express his anguish and discontent with the British Rule that had created the manmade tragedy that was the 1942 Bengal Famine. The gaunt, famished figures of families ravaged by hunger and malnutrition are images that still haunt our conscience. He continued to use the same for the Tebhaga movement supporting the peasants and their demands. K.G. Subramniyam sustained the use of lithographic and serigraphic presses in the art department and himself used graphic prints for illustrating children’s books.

Stand-alone print making has strong roots in Delhi also, with the likes of Jaya Appaswamyand Jagmohan Chopra taking up the torch. The latter set up a press that was used by many of his contemporaries and colleagues who were members of Group eight or Delhi Shilpi Chakra such as AnupamSud, Paramjeet Singh, Manjit Bawa and Krishan Ahuja. Manjit Bawa trained in silk screen printing in London and did pioneering work in creating flat, luminous surfaces while Parmajeet Singh used it to translate semi abstract works into multi-chromatic prints. Last two decades of printmaking have been dominated by the erstwhile members of the Indian Printmakers Guild, who pushed the boundaries of the art and craft of the medium. Digital interventions have re-invented the notion of original as well as redefined the limits of printmaking, creating newer spaces for this ancient practice.