Pride of Telugus: Renowned master printmaker Krishna Reddy passes away

One of the finest and well-renowned throughout the world, printmaker, sculptor and artist Krishna Reddy passed away on August 22 in New York.

Krishna Reddy, a master in the Intaglio process of printmaking, was born in 1925 in Nanadanoor Village of Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh. He studied fine arts from Santiniketan, Kolkata, and Slade School of Fine Arts in London.

Apart from his commendable contribution in the field of graphic art, he was also a dedicated teacher and made it a point to share his innovative processes with artists and students. Throughout his life he taught at many institutions such as the Montessori Teachers’ Training Centre in Madras, Maryland Insti-tute College of Art, Pratt Institute, Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, University of Texas and many more. Since 1977, Krishna Reddy was a professor and artist-in-residence in New York University serving as the Director of Graphics and Printmaking in the Art Department.

One of his works.

A true blue experimenter, Krishna Reddy worked with a marked passion and meditative ecstasy that was always reflected in the works created by him.
His hallmark subtle colour palette with rich textural expanses, linear abstract formations are very contemporary and archaic at the same time.

The converging and dispersing netted and webbed lines reinstate a deep thought process and unfolding of an innate emotion. A lot of his works reflect the antiquity of a weathered and washed away surface that always excels in intriguing the viewers and engrossing them for a long time. His sensitive works emanate a mystic, spiritual tranquillity which is a crystal clear reflection of the artist’s deep understanding of human nature and psychology, realistic paradigms and abstract fantasies. He was bestowed with many prestigious awards and accolades, Padmashri and the highest honour — the Printmaker Emeritus Award 2000 from the Southern Graphics Council of America — to name a few.

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