Printed images are a key element in the visual landscape of modern India. They hang in homes, institutions and shops, and include the iconography of religion, politics and entertainment. Coloured pictures were first printed in India at the turn of the century, and although the processes used have evolved, from lithography to photo-offset and computer generation, the work always begins with an artist.

The painters who supply the calendar and print market today share a heritage of traditional craft skills combined with European realism and advertising graphics. Most Indians visualize their sacred places, national heroes and deities in printed images. Reproduction makes it inevitable that images will be used for different purposes and lend power to them all.