Printmaking Practices in India: A Historical Sketch and Contemporary Printmakers

Speaker: Kavita Shah

July 20, 2006 | 6.30 pm
Little Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai

Kavita Shah is an artist, curator and art educator, currently an Assistant Professor at the College of Architecture, S.V.I.T. Vasad, Gujarat. A Postgraduate from the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda, the artist has specialized in etching, lithography, and woodcut. A committed printmaker, Kavita Shah is a founder member and Coordinator at Chhaap: Baroda Printmaking Workshop and has several solo and group exhibitions (national and international) to her credit. She has received fellowships in Printmaking from the Kanoria Centre For Arts, Ahmedabad, awards from AIFACS, Gujarat State Lalit Kala Academy, and was invited by the French Embassy (India) and L’AFAA to participate in workshops in Paris. Kavita has conducted and participated in numerous workshops and seminars on printmaking in New York, Paris, Delhi, Baroda, NID, Ahmedabad, Bhopal and also written articles in few periodicals.

In this presentation, Kavita Shah will introduce the concept, techniques and processes of printmaking. A historical investigation of printmaking in India will look into the introduction of the printing press in India by Jesuit missionaries and the East India Company, and the consequent development of engraving, etching, woodcuts and metal engravings for book illustrations. Many art colleges were set up during the colonial regime along with printmaking facilities. Oleographs also became a very popular medium to reproduce the paintings of Kalighat and Ravi Varma. The contribution of the Bengal school and the influence of Japanese and German Expressionist woodcuts will be discussed.

In the post-independence era, the art schools of Delhi, Mumbai, Santiniketan and Baroda introduced printmaking departments and significant artists like Y.K.Sukla, Jyoti Bhatt, Somnath Hore, Jagmohan Chopra, Jaikrishan and others, contributed to the Indian printmaking scene. The next generation of printmakers who went to France & Italy were inspired by Krishna Reddy and S.W. Hayter. They learnt the technique of viscosity and returned to India to teach the same.

Kavita Shah, who has worked in many community studios will end her talk by giving few instances about such studios, the international exposure in India with Print Biennales, workshops and seminars, and the possibilities for printmaking and contemporary printmakers in the Indian art scenario.