I wish to acknowledge and express my gratitude to all individuals, both within and outside IGNCA, who have contributed to the success of this exhibition.
This comprehensive and updated retrospective exhibition on the eminent artist and printmaker. Shri Krishna Reddy could not have been possible without the initiative and support of the President, IGNCA Trust and the Board of Trustees of IGNCA. The credit of selecting and compiling of letters, journals and writings on him and by him, goes to Mrs. Judith Reddy, Shri Ram Rahman and Amir Behan Jahanbin, in consent and consultation with Shri Krishna Reddy.
The large body comprising of 162 works, 12 master plates, six sculptures, sketch books, catalogues, journals and personal photographs have been generously loaned by the artist himself.
Ms. Roobina Karode, Director, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) as a guest-curator, in words of Krishnaji himself, has envisioned and transformed the exhibition into "a work art" Special thanks are due to KNMA for allowing Ms. Roobina to undertake this curatorial assignment. We are grateful to Ms. Roobina for conceptualizing the exhibition and contributing the curatorial essay for the catalogue. We extend our appreciation to her support team in Ms. Akanksha Rastogi and Shri Shobhit Singh for aspects of exhibition display.
Credits are due to Shri Murti Ahuja for his unmatched perfection and professionalism in mounting and framing the works of art and to Shri Amar, Ranjit and Sujith from the Delhi Art Gallery for hanging of the art works.
The shift from the oral tradition to the textual one in India was expedited with the introduction of the printing press in the 16th century However, its full potential as a medium of creative expression was realized much later. Printmaking has remained relatively a lesser known art form in India.
While illustrated text books and images were printed from blocks made in various material for mass circulation, printmaking was considered more of a craft. It combined the skills of the artisan who was adept at drawing or copying works from original masters and the technician who processed the transfer of images on various surfaces and executed their printing
The liberation of printmaking from the commercial shackles of producing images for mass circulation and consumption into an artistic and creative medium was indeed a gradual process. Scenic and site specific images of places and people were already being reproduced in a variety of mediums-watercolours, oils, engravings, lithographs, painted aquatints, oleographs and photographs It was in the idyllic surroundings of Santiniketan and later at Kalakshetra that the foundational grooming of N. Krishna Reddy attuned him into the awareness of the self and the cosmos, the local and the universal. The essence of his learning and experience was embodied in his poetic and philosophical approach to image making. The act of seeing was nurtured as a prelude to exploration, and exploration as essential to discovery.
Printmaking is a medium given to magical generation and transformation of image. Unlike the stroke of a pencil or brush on paper or the mark of chisel on stone that is immediately made visible to the eye, printmaking is process-intensive. It anticipates and pre-empts an image through an intimate understanding and synchronization of tools, materials and techniques. Unlike a drawing, the printmaking process armies at the finality of the image in successive phases.
In traditional societies, the word and the image were both repeated and replicated by hand before the advent of photography, mechanical replications printed from the master image or source gave an impetus to mass production and circulation. Treated independently, two genres emerged from the mechanical reproduction of images one given to commercial expression and production and the other tapped for its innate creative potential.
With the Europeans establishing themselves in India, the early descriptions and images provided a window to the East, vetting the curiosity and resulting in an influx of travellers, traders and scholars to India Images of people, customs, monuments and scenic sites and artefacts were peddled avidly across the shores.
The first printing press was introduced by the Portuguese Jesuits in 1556 By 1591, nine books were printed in Goa with images and decorative initials, emblems etc. As traced by Nirmalendu Das who has researched extensively on the subject, the first illustrated cover was printed in 1568 These were printed using the relief-process of wood-engravings.
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