Krishna Reddy, a printmaker, professor of art, and author, was born in Chittoor, India, in 1925.

Reddy began his art studies under poet-artist Rabindranath Tagore, receiving a Diploma of Fine Arts from Vishva-Bharati University in 1946. He taught at a Madras art school until 1950 before emigrating to Europe, where he continued training as a painter and sculptor. His first teacher, at London's Slade School of Fine Arts, was semi-abstract sculptor Henry Moore. In 1951, Reddy earned a Certificate of Fine Arts and moved to Paris, where he studied in Ossip Zadkine's studio.

Reddy's reputation as an artist grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s. He began showing his work internationally in the late 1950s, and soon Reddy was receiving regular invitations to participate in group and solo exhibitions. In 1965, he joined his mentor Stanley William Hayter as co-director of Atelier 17. The Paris printmaking workshop was famed for its experimental work; in 1988, Reddy would author "New Ways of Color Printmaking," detailing the innovative techniques he had developed at Atelier 17. In recognition of these new methods, the government of India honored Reddy with the Padma Shri Award in 1972.

Upon leaving Atelier 17 in 1976, Reddy joined the art faculty of New York University's Art and Art Education department. He was appointed as a full-time Professor of Art the following year. During his 25-year tenure at the School of Education, Health, Nursing, and Arts Professions (now the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development), Reddy directed numerous printmaking workshops and served as Director of the Graphics and Printmaking Program. As a visiting professor, he also instructed student artists at The Cooper Union; University of California, Santa Cruz; University of California, Davis; University of Wisconsin--Madison; and Carnegie Mellon University.

Reddy was named Professor Emeritus at NYU in 2001. Krishna Reddy died in 2018.