Page 171 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

168 ART AND CRAFTS

earliest examples positively dated occur in the roll of the Diamond Sutra, an important
Buddhist scripture, printed in AD 868.’ 3
Although the method of printing advanced to some extent in some countries of the
east, it commenced later in the west. In Europe it was in Spain that paper was first
invented in the twelfth century. The first printing press was invented in Germany of
Europe in 1454-55 AD. A German named Gutenberg was its inventor. The relation of
printmaking with the printing industry is inseparable. When books began to be
published in the printing press, the need for pictures for the decoration of books was
also felt. To meet this need engraving on wooden blocks and also on metal plates
began to be produced and those pictures were added to the text. The Bible that
Gutenberg published from his press had various ornamentations in it. The Renaissance
in Europe in the fifteenth century also can be said to have influenced an inconceivable
advancement in the medium of prints.
Wood block print, wood engraving, metal engraving, etc. can be considered to be the
earliest media in prints. The art of lithography originated later, in the eighteenth
century. With the introduction of this medium a revolution occurred in printmaking. A
German playwright named Alois Schenefelder discovered this method of taking prints
by working directly on limestone slabs. This can be considered to be the earlier form
of modern offset printing. This medium played an extensive part in the printing
industry and in the art of printmaking. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when
different experimentations and innovations were going on in modern art, this medium
interested artists in a new way and provided new inspiration.
The printmaking that is practiced in our country at present is primarily the western
type. This means, it is a continuation and advancement of what had been initiated
during the Renaissance. Only in Japan and China there is still in practice an
indigenous method of printmaking; however, this has also declined as the process is
considerably complicated. In the middle of the seventeenth century Japan reached the
peak of excellence in the art of woodcut. A tradition called ‘Ukiyo-e’ was introduced;
‘Ukiyo-e’means ‘the floating world’which is a theory related to the Buddhist religion.
The great artists of this tradition are Hokusai and Hiroshige. Afterwards in the later
half of the nineteenth century Japanese woodcut prints acted as an inspiration behind
the growth of Impressionism in France. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries the art of printmaking developed remarkably. After the Second World War
the tide of printmaking swept through America. This period saw the extensive practice
of lithography and serigraphy.
The Introduction of Printmaking in Undivided Bengal: The Company Rule
It may be said that printmaking or the art of printing was introduced in Bangladesh by
foreigners. Before the advent of the Portuguese and the English there was no printing
technology in circulation in this country. But some information hints at the possibility
of there being a method of printing in use here. ‘... although sometimes immature
efforts of printing with the aid of carved wood or terracotta plates is noticed, it is not