Page 176 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

PRINTMAKING 173

the group of goldsmiths and blacksmiths engaged themselves as metal engravers and
the carpenters employed themselves in engraving on wood.
The prints of Bengal began with the engraved pictures of Bat-tala. This grew out of
necessity with the interest of illustrating books; later, after the academies were
established, printmaking went beyond actual necessity and was established in this
country as an excellent medium of art.
The Beginning of the Academic Method in Printmaking and the Development of
Creative Prints
During the Company period, beginning in the later half of the eighteenth century to
the middle of the nineteenth century, the art of this country was undoubtedly
influenced by the art of Europe due to the English and European artists coming to
India. In 1839 the Kolkata based British community took the initiative and founded
a completely private institute of art education, the Mechanics Institute. In 1854 there
was established ‘The Calcutta School of Industrial Art,’ which evolved into the
‘Government School of Art and Craft’ (1864). In the syllabus of the Art School along
with various disciplines of painting, considerable importance was also placed on
printmaking. Methodical education in the media of lithography, engraving, woodcut,
etc. was initiated. But it was during the period when it evolved into the School of
Industrial Art that printmaking developed a strong base, ‘Under Thomas Francis
Fowler, a teacher of the School of Industrial Art wood engraving was practiced by
nearly thirty students. A number of English books and periodicals were illustrated
with their combined skills. The engraved pictures produced under the joint initiative
of the students of the School of Industrial Art illustrated the book by Captain D.L.
Richardson On Flowers and Flower Gardens (1855).’ [Trans.] In the School of
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Industrial art considerable importance was given to printmaking and this in turn
greatly influenced the students. ‘In the past century (nineteenth) during the fifties, in
1, Zig Zag Lane there was established the Royal Lithographic Press, the people
behind it were, Dinnath Das, Nabinchandra Ghosh, Hiralal Das and Teen Kari
Majumdar, of the School of Industrial Art. Established in the era of the Sepoy Mutiny
their Royal Lithographic Press was the first Art Studio of Bengali artists. There were
facilities for working in painting and other subjects besides engraving and
lithography in this studio.’ [Trans.]
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Later in the Calcutta Government School of Art and Craft which was the evolved
form of the School of Industrial Art, considerable emphasis was placed on prints. The
successful students of the early days of this school, Annada Prasad Bagchi and
Shyamacharan Srimani both achieved great skill in the various media of printmaking.
Annada Prasad’s initial fame was for the illustrations of the two famous books of
Rajendra Lala Mitra, Antiquities of Orissa and Bodh Goya. 10 The greatest
achievement of Annada Prasad Bagchi was establishing Calcutta Art Studio (1878)
along with other students. There were arrangements for marketing litho prints from
this studio. In fact, the Art Studio grew from the acceptance of printmaking as a