The Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat having nearly four decades of purposeful existence has become the cultural landmark of Karnataka, its usefulness assuming archival proportions. It was established in 1960, and then onwards it started conducting art exhibitions at both the state and national levels, besides organising conferences and workshops.

An art school, named Chitrakala Vidyalaya, was added to its bludgeoning activities in the year 1964.

In the year 1966, the Parishat was accorded recognition by both the Central and State Lalitkala Academies. At about the same time, the Parishat undertook a survey of the State's art treasures like the historic Mysore traditional paintings and leather puppets of similar antiquity. The survey yielded rewarding and far reaching results, the collections accrued from it forming invaluable source material for study and research.

With the grant of spacious land from the State Government and liberal financial help from individuals, its dream of having a building of its own was fulfilled. The Governments at the State and the Centre, as also international organisations like the UNESCO kept up their uninterrupted liaison with the Parishat and its work, often extending their patronage in more than one way.

As the Parishat started attracting more participation of artists, it set up a fully equipped graphic workshop and a sculpture studio.

The Parishat's permanent collection has Dr. S. Roerich's and his father's paintings. Two exclusive gallery floors have been erected in his memory, where these invaluable works are on a permanent display.

Similarly, it has a separate gallery of the munificent H.K. Kejriwal. He has donated his rare collection of art and artifacts, and generous funds to raise the gallery for their display. Thus, it's but natural that the Parishat has set up a H.K. Kejriwal Award for 6 young artists from the year 1998.

Internationally recognised graphic artist, Dr. Krishna Reddy has gifted his valuable graphic prints exhibition to the Parishat. Some popular paintings of Mr. S.S. Kukke are the other additions to this list. The Mysore traditional style of painting, which was almost extinct, was revived by the Parishat under the guidance of Master Artist Y. Subramanaya Raju.

The memory of Dr. Svetoslav Roerich has been perpetuated solidly by setting up a Roerich Institute of Fine Arts imparting foundation courses to students. The Chitrakala Vidyalaya established in 1964 was duly upgraded as a College of Fine Arts, affiliated to Bangalore University. It is a landmark in the field of higher education in fine arts. The students graduate themselves in one of the specialization like Painting, Sculpture, Applied Art, Graphic Art or Art History.

More recently, the post-graduate, course was bifurcated from College of Fine Arts by the Bangalore University. Now known as Chitrakala Institute of Advanced Studies (CIAS), it has 50 post-graduate students and seven registered for Doctoral studies, guided and trained by well qualified faculty members.

The Parishat has initiated and probed into the various areas of research in the field of visual arts. The Parishat is conducting fundamental research in exploring the enormous material laid therein.

The college offers a Bachelor's degree called Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A). The qualification is S.S.L.C and an aptitude towards Visual Arts. The selection of candidates is by a practical examination and personal interviews. The Roerich College of Art is an integral part of the Parishat offering the B.F.A courses.

The college also offers Masters in Fine Arts (M.F.A). An extension called Chitrakala Institute of Advanced Studies (CIAS) has been established to cater to the ever increasing demand for Master degree courses.