The Waswo X. Waswo Collection of Indian Printmaking began in 2003 as the brainchild of American expatriate Richard John Waswo, better known today as the artistic persona Waswo X. Waswo. Seeing a lack of interest in the mediums and possibilities of printmaking among India's collecting elite, and a woeful lack of knowledge among foreign collectors, the collection began with the purchase of just two small etchings, one by the eminent Indian artist Bhupen Khakhar, and one by a young and then unknown Goan artist named Rajan Fulari. These two etchings set the direction for what was to come: a collection that sought to compile not just a list of the historical and recognized, but a collection that opened itself to aspiring artists of the day.   

Within the course of under a decade the fledgling collection had grown enough for its first exhibition. Under the astute curatorial guidance of Lina Vincent Sunish the collection premiered to the public at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi in 2012, with the esteemed Anupam Sud serving as guest of honour.  Following this well-received initial presentation, the collection proceeded to travel to the National Gallery of Modern Art in Bengaluru, and subsequently was inaugurated at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, by the highly acclaimed contemporary artist Atul Dodiya. 

 Throughout these exhibitions symposiums were arranged, workshops were offered, and both young and veteran Indian artists were given the opportunity to elaborate on their work in a series of talks and visual presentations. A book by the same name as the exhibitions, Between the Lines, Identity, Place, and Power, was written by Lina Vincent Sunish and published by Serindia Contemporary, Chicago. 

Today The Waswo X. Waswo Collection of Indian Printmaking consists of well over 250 prints representing the work of nearly 100 individual artists. Included in the collection are rare works by early Bengal masters such as Mukul Dey, Ramendranath Chakravorty,  Haren Das and Nandalal Bose; moderns such as Krishna Reddy, Anupam Sud, Jyoti Bhatt and Laxma Goud, and contemporary talents such as Soghra Khurasani, Viraj Naik, and T. Venkanna. The collection has freely loaned individual pieces to exhibitions in India and Europe, and continues to strive to be an open, liberal, educational resource. The collection is in part a promised gift to the University of Iowa Museum of Art.