Soumik Nandy Majumdar: How did you get drawn to printmaking, Sanat-da?

Sanat Kar:    As you know, I was originally a student of painting. While in the college I did a few prints in dry-point but those were feeble attempts of no consequence. Later, in the late 50s we came to know about the modern printmaking of Europe. A new horizon opened up for us; at least for some of us.

Somnath-da (Somnath Hore) was one of the first persons to get highly enthused by this medium. So, we began to procure books on European print-making and started dabbling with this hitherto unknown medium. At that point Somnath-da left Calcutta to join the Polytechnic College in Delhi. Rest of us continued with our newly found enthusiasm and without any substantial knowledge or technical infrastructure. It was like beginning from the scratch in the dark. Then we, from the Society of Contemporary Artists, applied to Lalit Kala Academy for a printing press and other accessories required for setting up a printmaking studio.

SNM: This is to recapitulate that you were a founding member of the Society of Contemporary Artists founded in 1960 – one of the major artists’ collectives in Calcutta.

SK: Yes, just a few years after I passed out from the college in 1955.

SNM: Ramendranatha Chakravorty, the pioneer in modern printmaking passed away the same year.

SK: Yes, he was our principal. Incidentally, mine was the last certificate he signed before his demise.

SNM: We know that Ramendranatha Chakravorty took initiative in introducing creative printmaking in the art college. So I suppose as students you all were familiar to this new technique already?

SK: Yes, of course! But that was a different kind of printmaking, focusing mainly on wood-engravings. But later we were trying to grasp the techniques of intaglio. Eventually we got that grant from Lalit Kala and we began the hunt. Hunt for the materials and a suitable press. After long and continuous effort we could finally acquire a small press. I began setting up the printmaking studio of the Society at Dharmatala Street and some of us began to work, with an inadequate knowledge but plenty of enthusiasm.

SNM: Sanat-da tell me more about the setting up of the studio and how did you equip and inform yourselves about modern printmaking?

SK: On the one hand we were going through trial and error, and on the other we were desperately trying to collect books and reading materials on modern printmaking. It was deemed very important to update ourselves with the latest happenings of the West, both on the technical and aesthetic aspects. I knew about William Hayter and his studio. I was frantically looking for his book – ‘About Prints’. I searched at every possible book shop in Calcutta, but couldn’t find it. I was truly worried. I did not even know how to prepare the ground on the etching plate; we applied stop-out and somehow managed to pull out some prints – but not to our satisfaction. We continued nevertheless.

Finally there was a breakthrough. It was a hot summer afternoon and I was entering the Society building after a tiring and frantic search for the books. There used to be a small printing Press unit on the ground floor, beside the staircase, right at the entrance of the building. Exhausted and upset, as I was taking rest in the Press, the owner Kali-babu asked me – Whats up? I told him that I was worried because I was unable to find the proper ground – the acid-resistant ground – required for etching, and not even a single book that could instruct me how to make it. I even went to Haren-da (Haren Das) who told me that it was not available here; only option left was to import it from abroad. After listening to my desperation and frustration Kali-babu told me –   Printing-ink itself is acid resistant. Have you ever thought of that?

I sprang up from the seat, rushed back home, took out some old zinc plates which I had received from my teacher and smeared the reverse side of the plate with printing-ink. Using a match-stick I did a drawing on that ground and immersed the plate into acid-tub. The biting went on very well and I pulled out a successful print; that was my first etching print using the printing-ink as the ground.

SNM: So that was a major eureka moment for you?

SK: Ha ha… In fact all the twenty-four odd prints in my first solo show at Delhi in 1969 were done in this process.

At this point, I must tell you that when I was teaching at Calcutta Boys School I bought the Press, engraver and other materials originally belonged to Ramendranath Chakravorty. Most of my prints for that first solo show were printed in that press.

SNM: Coming back to the use of printing-ink as the etching ground, what else could you do with it?

SK: Gradually I extended the possibility of printing-ink by using it also in the transfer process. Furthermore, I discovered that if I mixed turpentine with printing-ink and immersed the plate in water one could get an effect similar to aqua tint. Then you could even manipulate that effect by changing the quantity of the water. You could also have different qualities of line including brush like line which is otherwise difficult to get in normal etching. Use of printing-ink opened up the possibilities of a whole range of tonal effects akin to water colour. By then we had heard about the viscosity method and we followed that technique to some extent but my own method happened to be a bit different from Hayter’s method.

SNM: What is the main point of difference?

SK: Hand wiping! I began to do hand wiping. As a result, I was able to achieve a finer tonal quality compared to Hayter’s method where it was mostly flat color without any gradation. Hence, right from the very stage of plate making my method turned out to be quite different. I continued persistently with this method and my first solo show of prints in Delhi (1969) was entirely a product of this endeavor. Incidentally, my first buyer of print was Mulk Raj Anand who bought three of my works from that show.

SNM: Beside these innovations in etchings on zinc plates when and how did you begin to explore previously unknown mediums like wood-intaglio and board-intaglio?

SK: During that time price of the zinc plate was getting steep and was becoming unaffordable. Though we used to buy plates from the second-hand market at a cheaper rate I was looking at a more cost effective method. Then it suddenly struck me, why not wood? I took a plank of Shegun tree. I needed a different set of tools and even adjust the Press to carry out the printing from it properly. When I was about to take the first print I was challenged with the problem of inking. Wood plank would surely soak the ink. To solve that problem I applied a coat of Fevicol before inking and then pulled out a print, quite successfully.

SNM: Why didn’t you continue with wood intaglio for long?

SK: It was the cost again. Moreover, you often didn’t get the size you wanted. So, I thought about using plywood instead. But the problem with plywood was, neither could you cut with the normal tools nor could you use Burin. So I got the kind of files the goldsmiths used and tried that out on plywood. To my great amazement and fulfillment I was able to have the finest lines on plywood using that kind of file. I went on producing a number of works in plywood intaglio.

SNM: And sunmica?

SK: My first experiment with sunmica was at Kala Bhavana. I did a series of engraving on sunmica. It was another successful experiment indeed.

SNM: Is it possible to get tonal quality in sunmica?

SK: Why not? I used to rub sand on the surface thus making it coarse and consequently get a tonal effect – simple! Later I began to use cardboard as another intaglio surface as well.

SNM: How would you do intaglio from such a fragile material like cardboard?

SK: Simply get it coated with Fevicol which makes the board stiff. Now it is ready to be worked upon. I improvised appropriate tool to get different kinds of lines and textures on cardboard. You can actually pull out any number of prints from this fragile board.

SNM: As a print-maker it seems that your entire journey is driven by experiments, improvisations and thus making it unconventional in many senses. One should also remember that you are basically a self taught printmaker.

SK: Yes, I don’t belong to any particular gharana. I have evolved through trial and error. I have no guru.

SNM: We know that you have even used most odd kind of materials like pencil, crayon to prepare the ground on the etching plate. This must have been a very exciting discovery again?

SK: Oh yes! The story of this discovery is quite interesting. Once I planned to do a large etching and bought an enamel plate to work on. After dipping the plate into acid tray suddenly I observed that the price written in the old fashioned red-blue pencil on the enamel plate remained safe from acid bite. Why not then use pencil as the ground on the plate? I tried with crayon and with normal lead pencil as well. I discovered that if you prepare a weak acid then even the graphite lines stay on the plate. In this technique of course you get a negative image of the drawing because the portions untouched by pencil remain vulnerable to acid and those are the areas that eventually constitute the final image.

SNM: Finally, as a teacher in an art college like Kala Bhavana how did you use to inspire your students?

SK: I used to work myself almost whole day till evening in the department. This itself could be very inspirational for the student, to see the teachers working with them in the same space. I never imposed any particular style or method on the students but my involvement with what they were doing was perhaps unavoidable. I am in favor of interdisciplinary pedagogy. Students in the print making department should also do painting, sculpture, mural and have a holistic exposure. I have great faith in Nandalal Bose’s idea of a complete artist. In fact I myself have come back to painting again. I have done sculptures as well. Being an enthusiastic reader myself, I have always been encouraging students to read. It is so important to nourish your mind all the time.

With his characteristic expression and enthusiastic tone Sanat-da asks, ‘Anything else?’ and we slowly sign off from this conversation over a cup of hot tea.

Soumik Nandy Majumdar teaches in the department of History of Art, Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan.
A larger version of this interview was first published in the magazine Art Etc – News & Views, September 2011.