---
title: "The New Horizon of Planography Practice in Bangladesh: History, Alternative Materials and Institutional Constraints in Plate Lithography"
url: https://www.ijsab.com/jsr-volume-15-issue-1/9308
type: post
date: 2026-11-14
modified: 2026-11-14
markdown_url: https://www.ijsab.com/jsr-volume-15-issue-1/9308.md
author: "Chief Editor"
---

# The New Horizon of Planography Practice in Bangladesh: History, Alternative Materials and Institutional Constraints in Plate Lithography

# The New Horizon of Planography Practice in Bangladesh: History, Alternative Materials and Institutional Constraints in Plate Lithography



### Author (s)


**Shafin Imtiaj Shihab, Palash Baran Biswas, & Asma Chowdhury**




### Abstract


Lithography or planography was a commercial printing process and then became an art medium that was introduced into the Indian subcontinent. Although it has a long tradition in the printmaking community of Bangladesh, starting from Mohammad Kibria and Murtaja Baseer to the present day, it is still a small-scale activity amongst printmakers. The paper reviews the historic scenario, current situation and experimental potential of planographic practice in Bangladesh. It poses three questions: how lithography arrived in and flourished in the Bangladeshi art institutions, if cheap and available materials can broaden the expressive spectrum of Aluminium-plate lithography, and the reasons why students are not using lithography in art. Studying is a qualitative and practice-based study. It contains a critique of Bengali- and English-language literature, semi-structured interviews with six practicing lithographers, field visits at five fine arts institutions along with a brief questionnaire to thirteen Master of Fine Arts (MFA) students from Khulna University. Its core is a series of experiments undertaken in the studios around grained, and offset-exposed, aluminium plates. The materials tested were gum arabic resist drawing, offset positive remover gel, and ALU NET plate cleaner as well as nail polish remover, a gum arabic -phosphoric acid etch, carbon paper transfer, lipstick, oil pastel, combined tusche and glass marker and press ink thinned with Berger Robbialac Thinner T-6. Every material produced a printable image. A basic gum arabic and phosphoric acid solution (8.5 mL H₃PO₄ in 250 mL gum solution) was used as an inexpensive alternative to the traditional TAPEM etch. The questionnaire revealed that 53.8% of students of MFA do not practice lithography because they do not see many chances to continue their practice after graduation, and 84.6% of them consider lithography to be the most dangerous medium of printmaking. The findings from the perspective of diffusion-of-innovations and postcolonial art-education reveal that limitations of the medium in Bangladesh are not expressive but institutional and economic.


***Key words:* ***Lithography, Planography, Plate lithography, Printmaking, Alternative materials, Bangladesh, Practice-led research, Art education, Diffusion of innovations.*
**[Download PDF](http://ijsab.com/wp-content/uploads/1253.pdf)
**






Title:
**The New Horizon of Planography Practice in Bangladesh: History, Alternative Materials and Institutional Constraints in Plate Lithography**



Author:
Shafin Imtiaj Shihab, Palash Baran Biswas, & Asma Chowdhury



Journal Name:
Journal of Scientific Reports



Website:
http://ijsab.com/jsr



ISSN:
ISSN: 2708-7085 (Online), ISSN: 3079-9317 (Print)



Publisher
IJSAB International



DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58970/JSR.1253



Media:
Online



Volume:
15



Issue:
1



Acceptance Date:
12/11/2026



Date of Publication:
14/11/2026



PDF URL:
http://ijsab.com/wp-content/uploads/1253.pdf



Free download:
Available



Page:
**327-346**



First Page:
327



Last Page:
346



Paper Type:
Research paper



Current Status:
Published





**Cite This Article: **


**Shihab, S. I., Biswas, P. B., & Chowdhury, A.  (2026).** The New Horizon of Planography Practice in Bangladesh: History, Alternative Materials and Institutional Constraints in Plate Lithography, *Journal of Scientific Reports*, 15**,** 327-346. https://doi.org/10.58970/JSR.1253
**About Author (s)
**


**Shafin Imtiaj Shihab,** MFA in Printmaking Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh.

**Palash Baran Biswas,** Associate Professor, Printmaking Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh.

**Asma Chowdhury (Corresponding author),** Assistant Professor, Printmaking Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9771-2789

 

[Download PDF](http://ijsab.com/wp-content/uploads/1253.pdf)

**DOI: [https://doi.org/10.58970/JSR.1253](https://doi.org/10.58970/JSR.1253)**