The art market, amongst other forces, helps perpetuate a hierarchy amongst art forms. As paintings on canvas get sold at high prices, we see various other art forms/practices getting ignored, not getting the importance that is due to them. Traditional printmaking practices seem to be slowly fading away; many of them are getting replaced by digital initiatives. As printmaking practices get represented, quite alarmingly, only as techniques, we see them playing roles that are subordinate to other art practices.

In this issue of ART India, we have therefore tried to take a comprehensive look at the various histories of printmaking practices and initiatives. This is our attempt at reviving an interest in printmaking's past and generating a debate about its future. In the Lead Essay, Paula Sengupta gives us an overview of the development of printmaking initiatives in India, as in the Letter from Pakistan, Quddus Mirza looks at the rise and fall of printmaking in his country. We have four Lead Features this time: Alka Pande, Sandhya Bordewekar, Geeta Doctor, and Anshuman Das Gupta address the various issues involved in the evolution of printmaking ventures in Delhi, Baroda, Chennai, and Bengal respectively. We also carry profiles of key printmakers, both old and young. Himanshu Desai discusses Shanti Dave's contribution to printmaking, Alka Pande examines Anupam Sud's etchings, Nivedita Magar assesses the interplay between Delip Sharma's prints and watercolours, and Geeta Doctor and Avani Rao Gandra investigate K. Laxma Goud's impressive oeuvre. Geeti Sen interviews Zarina Hashmi as Ratnottama Sengupta discusses Krishna Reddy's pioneering explorations. Kashinath Salve describes some of the key printmaking processes in his Glossary. Sandhya Bordewekar informs us about printmakers' books in her Special Report and about India's first indigenously manufactured etching press in her other piece. She reviews a show of three Spanish printmakers as Peter Nagy offers a critical appreciation of Jyoti Bhatt's oeuvre. We carry Bhatt's work on our cover as well.

We carry most of our other standard features.
We are glad our readers have liked our last issue.
Thanks for all the compliments. Let them keep coming in.
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Warm regards,