While mechanical printing technology came to India in the 16th century through Portuguese missionaries, Jesuits and traders, printing technology in India for regional languages began early with Tamil and Konkani mainly to popularise Christian literature. Printing technology began to be used widely in the 18th-19th centuries in major cities of the British Presidencies such as Calcutta (Kolkata), Madras(Chennai) and Bombay(Mumbai). Exotic large picture books with scenes of Indian landscapes, monuments and people as well as textbooks printed in England and later in India using lithography, woodcut and etching techniques came into circulation. Even popular calendar art, Indian religious literature using colour lithography and offset printing became available at pilgrimage sites and temple towns in the early 20th century. Creative literature in English and regional languages began to be printed in large editions and widely circulated. Another revolution that printing brought about was to spread the word about socio-political revolution and anticolonial sentiment leading to the freedom movement. The Nationalist movements made full use of the broadcast media such as radio and newspaper including freedom movement related journals, posters and leaflets. Printing with moveable letters revolutionised 20th century Indian society; newspapers appeared in many regional languages which could be printed and circulated widely even to the remotest corners of India. This in some sense united all stratas of the literate Indian society – by sharing information - world came closers, regions more connected and social, economic, political, and cultural awareness expanded. ­

Notably, printmaking as an artform in contrast is in limited edition, for a limited class of connoisseurs of art and for aesthetically advanced taste, not for mass consumption. However, printmaking as an artform came into existence much later than painting and sculpture through art school pedagogy to explore techniques and processes of art production in the mid-20th century. It was through the pedagogy of applied arts that the process of platemaking and printing posters etc first engaged the art students and developed into an industry for mass production. In most art schools established all over India prior to the 1960s, there were very few women artists who seriously pursued this artform, rarely as the main technique of their artistic expression. For a long time, printmaking did not receive its due acknowledgement as a serious art medium over painting and sculpture, but this perception is slowly changing over time with teaching institutions and museums treating it on the same footing as painting and sculpture. Even though the market for printmaking is more advanced in the west, it is slowly catching up in India as well. In my view, printmaking deserves much more prestige as it not only involves creativity and skill, but it is the best blend of art, aesthetics, science and technology. It needs stamina, patience, perseverance and understanding of science and technology to fully exploit its potential as a medium.

Many art students slowly dabbled with techniques such as lithography, woodcut, linocut, mezzotint, aquatint and etching etc. more seriously as their principal art medium. The medium of printmaking lends itself to a range of expressions - from decorative and repetitive forms in abstraction and play of colours and textures to narrative storytelling using figuration through an individual artist’s practice. For women to take up printmaking as a full-time profession requires tremendous courage, persistence and deserve much more honour than they have been accorded so far. It would not be an exaggeration to say while printing revolutionised India into a reading and thinking society, printmakers have also contributed in their own way to spread awareness against political, social, economic and gender discrimination through their medium of expression using multiple techniques of printmaking and continue to do so. Women’s contribution in this regard needs closer look and deeper research into their background and artistic disposition.

To appreciate and commend the place of Indian women in the field of printmaking one has to understand how this art technique infiltrated the art school environment and provided the safe space and studio facilities for women to become full time printmakers.  In Europe and America, women entered this profession either as a past time or to earn a living since the 17th century, however, they were not recognised at first in the salon exhibitions but by the time of Impressionism in the late 19th century, they managed to carve a niche for themselves. In India, the context and circumstances were radically opposite. In around the mid-20th century institutional printmaking studio facilities began to develop in art schools as an independent art medium along with painting and sculpture at institutions such as the J J School of Art, Mumbai; Faculty of Fine Arts, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara; Kalabhavan, Vishwabharati University, Shantiniketan; College of Art, Delhi among others. Even non-profit artist groups such as the Chola Mandalam near Chennai and Garhi workshop in New Delhi among other workshop facilities developed in Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Mumbai, Vadodara etc. that gave space for all artists including women to practice. One reason why many women with family responsibilities could pursue their art practice is largely due to the availability of such facilities outside of the art institutions or their own homes which they could avail of after graduation. It is extremely challenging for women printmakers to own a printing press and related facility at home, hence more support in this area is required if more women were to pursue this art form today and in future.

Another aspect for women to flourish in this area is the availability of avenues to showcase their work. Besides the All India Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS) established in 1928 in Delhi it was the Lalit Kala Akademi established in 1954 which organised many group exhibitions regularly in all categories of art practice. In the year 1969, Jagmohan Chopra and a few major artists started Group 8 which held annual exhibitions in Delhi in collaboration with Shilpi Chakra group mainly for printmakers. Among women artists such as Anupam Sud, Shobha Broota and others I also exhibited my works with Group 8 regularly as an invited artist. In 1987, the Kanoria Centre for the Arts opened a fully equipped Graphics studio in Ahmedabad which benefitted printmakers from western India. In 1990s, the Delhi based Indian Printmaker’s Guild also began exhibiting regularly at the Lalit Kala gallery which endeavoured to dispel the widely held misconception of print as an artform being produced in ‘multiple’ as not ‘original’. Currently, there are very few platforms where printmaking as an artform is being showcased exclusively in India despite the boom in art fairs, auction platforms and art galleries - hence for women to take up this profession seriously is not only demanding, its commercially tricky as well.

In my own art practice, I have actively promoted the medium of printmaking through persistent and prolific output over the past sixty years, which has been recognised nationally as well as internationally. In my view what attracts women to the medium of printmaking can be summarised from my own experience expanding on this medium over the years - more opportunities to explore my creative expression using different techniques and discovering and manipulating their effects most suited to the theme and form, opportunity to produce multiple editions from the same plate with variations. The endless play with texture, tonal gradation, manipulation with multiple colours, mastering skills of tools for etching, lithography etc, and expertise available to explore techniques like intaglio, etching & aquatint, mezzotint, viscosity etc brings out the richness of the subject using suitable techniques. Simply put, the virtuosity of this medium is what allows me to challenge my own creativity and find a suitable medium and technique to get the best expression in the artwork.

When I started my practice, most Indian women artists studied at leading art institutions and private studios in England, France, the US and later in India. In England, The Regent Street Polytechnique in London had a great art school where printmaking was also taught and I had the opportunity to enrol in their Printmaking programme for three years(1960-63) learning with masters like Henry Trivik.  In France, Atelier 17 in Paris (1927-1988) was started by Stanley William Hayter which was famous for the intaglio and viscosity techniques of fine printmaking. Many Indian artists learnt and practiced their art in association with Atelier 17 including Krishna Reddy, Zarina Hashmi, Jin Sook Shinde to name a few. Under French government’s scholarship(1975-76), Rini Dhumal also studied printmaking at Atelier 17. Pratt Graphic Art Centre in New York was started by Margaret Lowengrund (1955-1986) who was at the centre of the Printmaking Renaissance in The USA during the 50s and 60s. Both Jyoti Bhatt and myself from Baroda had the opportunity to learn and practice printmaking at this studio.

To name a few early practicing women printmakers from the 1960s that I am aware of who exhibited nationally as well as internationally were Zarina Hashmi, Devayani Krishna, Naina Dalal, Lalita Lajmi, Shobha Broota and Anupam Sud. They are some of the foremost women artists who began actively and seriously producing and exhibiting their prints publicly in group and solo shows since 1960s and 1970s. Soon after Saroj Gogi, Rini Dhumal among others started actively pursuing printmaking and exhibiting in the 1970s and 80s. While since the 1990s Shukla Sawant, Kavita Nayyar, Kanchan Chunder, Jin Sook Shinde, Kavita Shah among others began pursuing this artform seriously. Many Indian art students learnt printmaking under Somnath Hore at Shantiniketan who was one of the most illustrious and internationally renowned artist and teacher of printmaking in India. Recent Lalit Kala exhibition to Poland titled Stree Vision held in 2018 compiled works of 51 women printmakers from all over India of eminent and promising women artists; there would be many more who are practicing this artform in India today.

Thematically, women printmakers have produced highly credible works in genres ranging from abstraction, minimalism to figuration with commentary on motherhood, sexuality and body, self as subject or object, social injustice, gender discrimination, political satire, human relations and identity, urban crisis, and other such contemporary topics. Indeed, printmaking is a contemporary and technologically advanced medium giving women who practice it a technical edge and ability to connect their expression with the immediate reality around them. This resonates across the globe, however, much more needs to be done to provide more visibility to women printmakers. On the occasion of the International Women’s Day celebration, I would like to congratulate the Director General of NGMA for promoting this medium and the opportunity given to Indian women printmakers to showcase their works.