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HERITAGE: GRAPHIC EXPRESSIONS
Pre-photography Age
In Bengal it was
used by early British artists like Tilly Kettle, the uncle-nephew duo
of Thomas and William Daniell, William Hodges and Charles D'Oyly who strove
to record whatever exotica caught their eye: a street scene, a bazaar,
a view of a fort. Priceless as visual records of their times, these aquatints
and metal-plate etchings were not necessarily a conscious propagation
of the graphic art. They were done rather to record Indian scenes for
folios and publications back in England before the development of photography.
However, they did spur printmaking in India.
Although the first Indian Bible was printed
in 1801 in Serampore, the country's first printed visuals probably emerged
to illustrate an edition of Bharat Chandra's Ananda Mangal in 1816. Of
the six engravings the book contained-four woodcuts and two copper plates-only
two were credited to an obscure artist named Ramchandra Ray. By 1820,
illustrated books and design types were making their way out of Battala-Kolkata's
printing district-and the bylanes around the Kalighat temple. The Kalighat
patachitra painters, famous for their satirical watercolours and street-smart
literature, discovered a way of popularising their craft by hiring engravers
to replicate their sketches on wood. The idea-then,
as it is now-was to reach a wider audience.
Ironically, despite its low cost, popularity
and historical role, printmaking has for long been a somewhat neglected
child of Indian art. "It has never received enough exposure,"
says Pratiti Basu Sarkar of Kolkata's cima gallery. Yet graphic art, argue
printmakers, is much more laborious and painstaking than oil painting.
Artist Atin Basak says he can do only 10 to 15 etchings a year, while
he can churn out as many as 30 paintings in the same period.
"We don't have the right tools to save
us time," says artist Amitabha Banerji. It was only when Banerji
was invited to the US a few years ago for a workshop that he discovered
he had been hopelessly outmoded for most of his career. Banerji feels
that Indian printmakers could definitely do with a technological leg-up.
"Till recently there were few takers for
this form of art as most did not know what printmaking was all about,"
Basak analyses. He's right as even today some buyers shy from buying art
prints because they are not perceived to be unique and original. "The
very idea of print means you make multiples of a design (together called
an edition)," says sculptor Ramendranath Kastha.
Limited edition copies can make the item affordable.
"A print can never command the price an original painting does,"
says Banerji. A signature artist might sell his painting for anything
between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, a signature print would not fetch more
than Rs 25,000. Galleries too are more willing to sell an oil canvas because
they stand to gain more by way of commission on sales. But attitudes are
changing now. Says art collector Nitin Bhayana: "I most certainly
buy prints and consider them in no way a lesser art form. But there does
seem to be a prejudice in India not only about prints but about works
on paper generally." Prints, say connoisseurs, are rapidly reaching
that stage where the signature dictates the price. "A Picasso print
can cost anywhere between $500 (Rs 23,500) and $1 million (Rs 4.7 crore),"
says Bhayana.
And with good reason too. Of all art forms,
printmaking is the most friendly towards technological advances and young
artists are logging on to this in a big way. "First the technique
of photography, then the wonders of the computer and now the amazing dimensions
of digital technology have boosted both the morale and the scope of printmakers,"
insists Yusuf. Sure, it means you don't have to lug around heavy stones.
But purists feel digital manipulation cannot match the depth and dimensions
of a hand-crafted work. Still, printmakers have experimented with a wide
variety of techniques, like fort-tage, monotype, video tapes and photostat
copies.
"If the market for print has been small,
then it is time it was expanded," says a connoisseur. And that is
what this exhibition is setting out to do.
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