It was founded on August 16, 1854 at Garanhata, Chitpur, "with the purpose of establishing an institution for teaching the youth of all classes, industrial art based on scientific methods."

In February 1892 the institute was shifted to its present site adjacent to the Indian Museum.

He attempted to reform teaching to emphasise Indian traditions, leading to the emergence of the style known as the Bengal school of art.

[1] From August 15, 1905 to 1915, Abanindranath Tagore was the Vice-Principal of the college, and worked towards developing an Indian style of Art, which gave birth to the Bengal school of art,[2] an agenda that was to be pursued at the Kala Bhavan, Shantiniketan.

[1] Notable alumni of this institute include Nandalal Bose, Jamini Roy, Kisory Roy, Lain Singh Bangdel, Atul Bose, Somnath Hore, Rajen Tarafdar, Jainul Abedin, Hemen Majumdar, Shanu Lahiri,[3] Ganesh Pyne, Ganesh Haloi, Sunil Das, Samir Mondal,[4] Jogen Chowdhury, Sudip Roy,[5] Pulak Biswas, Ananta Mandal,[6] Paresh Maity, Sanatan Dinda, Biman Bihari Das.