British intervention in art education in the 19th century created hierarchies in art practices. Oil paintings rose to the apex. Graphic art made through processes of reproduction and technology-based photography was looked down upon.

A growing printing and publishing trade in Calcutta created a demand for the illustrations and so woodcut prints flourished in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Similarly, in Santiniketan in the 20th century, a vigorous publishing programme of Bengali Primers for children saw the encouragement of the graphic medium. The Santiniketan masters actively experimented with engravings, woodcuts and linocuts. Both at the Government School of Arts at Calcutta and at Kala Bhavana in Santiniketan, printmaking facilities became an important part of art education. Later, the art schools, as displayed by the works at NGMA, at Baroda and Delhi also built up their printing process considerably. Although graphic art initially fulfilled the need of publishing, before long it excited the artists with its potential as a medium. The NGMA has built up a discerning collection of such works.

Haren Das Angling Hours, Woodcut on paper, 25.8 X 18 cm Zarina Benares, Untitled, Graphics, 113 X 77 cm Krishna Reddy Falling Figure, Etching on paper, 44 X 33.5 cm R M Palaniappan Drawing on space by H Flight, 22 Mixed Media, 56 X 76cm Laxma Gaud Untitled, Etching, 40 X 26.5 cm Somnath Hore Untitled, 24 X 24 cm Lalu Prasad Shaw From Upward, Lithograph, 40 X 50 cm Anwar Print III, Lithograph on canvas, 77 X 106 cm Anupam Sud The Ceremony of Unmasking(triptych), Etching on paper, 65 X 95 cm