Largely ignored in the country, printmaking has a rich history and a long tradition of experimentation
Printing was, quite naturally, the predecessor of printmaking, a process in which the artist is involved in creating a matrix from which prints are pulled. The craft offers possibilities that painting does not, which is why it has drawn artists, though the process is usually a painstaking one. It is also laborious and involves the use of a base—whether wood block, linoleum sheet, metal plate or stone—that is treated to create a tactile result that can be used to make a few—never several—editions, each of which is numbered and signed by the artist. Relief printmaking uses wood or linoleum; planographic processes include lithography, chromolithography and oleography created by drawing on limestone or aluminium plates; intaglio processes use platemaking for engravings, drypoints, etchings, aquatints, mezzotints, photoprocesses and collography with or without the use of acids on plates of zinc, copper, aluminium, acrylic or board; and serigraphy has added its mechanical might through an ink-blocking stencil process that uses silk or polyester through which inks are forced to replicate the image. Artists have experimented with these to come up with diverse as well as signature styles that are as distinctive as paintings and sculptures, even though printmaking remains underserved by both viewers and collectors in India.
(This story appears in the Jan-Feb 2015 issue of ForbesLife India. To visit our Archives, click here.)