Early Life & Training
| Period | Place / Institution | What he did |
|---|---|---|
| 1925 | Born in Nandanoor, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, India. | |
| 1941-46 | Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan (Visva-Bharati University) | Studied fine arts under traditional/modern Indian art teachers. |
| ~1947-50 | Chennai (Kalakshetra Foundation and Montessori Teachers’ Training Centre) | Headed art section, taught, explored sculpture & painting. |
| 1949-51 | London (Slade School of Fine Arts) | Studied sculpture (Henry Moore’s class) etc. |
| Early-1950s onward | Paris – Atelier 17, working with Stanley William Hayter; also with Ossip Zadkine; later Milan, etc. |
Key Contributions & Innovation: Viscosity / Simultaneous Colour Printmaking
- Reddy was co-director/associate director at Atelier 17, Paris, where he helped develop and perfect the technique of viscosity printing (also called “simultaneous colour printmaking”).
- What is viscosity printing?
- A process by which multiple colours are printed simultaneously from a single metal plate.
- It works by using inks with different viscosity (degrees of thickness or fluidity)—some thick, others more fluid; the harder rollers or softer ones pick up different viscosities; colours are applied in a way so that they don’t mix undesirably.
- Also important: careful preparation of the plate (etching, aquatint, mezzotint, deep biting etc.), sometimes using sculptural approaches to the plate surface.
- Reddy’s prints are often abstract/organic, with textures, grids, delicate layers, and sometimes figurative traces (e.g. The Great Clown series).
Career & Teaching
- He moved to New York in the mid-1970s (around 1976).
- Was professor, director of graphics/printmaking at NYU from ~1977 onwards.
- Conducted workshops globally (many institutions) and taught many students; also kept exhibiting extensively.
Major Exhibitions & Collections
- Some solo / retrospective exhibitions:
- Krishna Reddy: A Retrospective (Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, 1981-82)
- To a New Form at Experimenter, Kolkata (2019)
- Heaven in a Wildflower at Print Center New York (23 Jan-21 May 2025) — first big mono-graphic NY show in over 40 years.
- Innovations in Printmaking (2023) exhibition showing much of his viscosity prints (1952-1997)
- Collections holding his work:
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
- Tate Britain, London
- Kiran Nadar Museum, New Delhi
- M+ Museum, Hong Kong
- Cincinnati Art Museum
- And others.
Themes, Style & Philosophy
- Reddy’s art bridges sculpture and printmaking. His early training in sculpture influenced how he approached the metal plate — treating it almost like a sculptural surface, carving, engraving deeply, thinking of form and depth.
- A consistent interest in form, nature, organic processes, spiritual philosophy, as well as a meditative approach; he believed in drawing as foundation (drawing was almost obsessive for him), in form evolving.
- His experimentation wasn’t merely technical; he pursued visual and conceptual freedom — to see multiple colors, layers, texture, movement in one print, to allow for nuance.
Honors, Recognition
- He received Padma Shri (India) in 1972.
- Printmaker Emeritus Award, from the Southern Graphics Council of America (2000).
Later Life & Death
- Continued working, teaching, exhibiting into later years.
- Died on 22 August 2018 in New York, aged 93.