Gulammohammed Sheikh retrospective traces 70 years of printmaking in Kolkata

A major retrospective of artist Gulammohammed Sheikh’s printmaking practice, spanning over seven decades, has opened in Kolkata, bringing renewed focus to a lesser-known but significant dimension of his work.

Titled Hand Prints / Mind Prints, the exhibition is curated by Pushpamala N. and presented by TRI Art & Culture in association with Vadehra Art Gallery. It is on view as part of the summer 2026 programme.

Structured as a two-part survey, the retrospective traces Sheikh’s journey from early handmade print techniques to his later experiments with digital media. While widely recognised as a painter, poet and art historian, Sheikh’s sustained engagement with printmaking has remained relatively underexplored.

The first section, Hand Prints, is conceived as an archival presentation, featuring works across woodcut, linocut, lithography, etching-aquatint and silkscreen. It follows Sheikh’s practice from the 1950s onwards, including his involvement with literary journals such as Pragati, Kshitij and Vrishchik, which used print as a means of expanding access to art and ideas.

The exhibition also revisits key moments in his evolution, including his participation in a landmark 1970 printmaking workshop in Delhi, after which he deepened his engagement with etching and aquatint, and his later efforts to promote printmaking through institutional initiatives.

The second section, Mind Prints, focuses on Sheikh’s digital works from 2001 onwards. Among the early adopters of digital printmaking in India, Sheikh explored the medium as a conceptual shift, describing these works as driven by the “mind” rather than the “hand.”

His digital prints are marked by dense visual layering, bringing together references from Indian and global art history, literature, cinema and mythology. Series such as the Mappamundi works, Kaavad-based compositions, and artist portraits reflect his interest in juxtaposing images across time and geography.

Curator Pushpamala N. noted that the exhibition seeks to foreground Sheikh’s print practice as central to his broader artistic and intellectual journey, highlighting its role in shaping his visual language and engagement with narrative.

Gulammohammed Sheikh, born in 1937, is regarded as one of India’s leading modern artists and was part of the influential Place for People exhibition in 1981, which marked a shift towards narrative figuration in Indian art.