Indian-born artist Krishna Reddy (1925–2018) was a key member of the Paris-based printmaking studio Atelier 17, where his groundbreaking technical achievements and teaching methods left an important legacy on twentieth-century printmaking. As co-director of the studio and a lifelong educator, Reddy advocated for an open-ended, exploratory approach to making art. For him, the creative process is as important as the final product: “Inquiring, learning: this is the real joy, the movement of life.”

Using a new multicolor printing process that he co-developed at Atelier 17, Reddy expanded the expressive, and even spiritual, possibilities for rendering the natural world in print. This exhibition, timed to coincide with the centenary of the artist's birth, explores his abstract representations of seeds, flowers, insects, water, and the human figure. Dazzling feats of color and texture, Reddy’s prints vibrate with the cosmic energy that, according to his personal philosophy, pulses through and connects all elements of nature. As objects, Reddy’s prints were imbued with a life force of their own. By modifying an image over time—either by reworking the plate or printing in different color combinations—he could give a composition a new life with each printing.

The exhibition celebrates the generous donation of sixty-three works by Reddy to the museum from Drs. Umesh and Sunanda Gaur, making this museum a major repository for the artist’s work.