After graduating in 1955 with a diploma in painting from the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Kolkata, Sanat Kar was ultimately hired in 1974 to be an instructor of printmaking at the prestigious Kala Bhavan in Santiniketan alongside Somnath Hore (b. 1921). He was also invited in 1978 to be a visiting professor of printmaking at Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda. Kar is widely recognized for his wood intaglio technique developed in the early 1970s, which Charles Stroh describes as the engraving and scratching of a wood surface using custom-made tools for a completed print with noticeable depth and texture.

As a founder member of the Artists’ Circle (1953) and the Society of Contemporary Artists (1960) in Kolkata, Sanat Kar was a proponent of collaborative art practices. In 1961, he helped to establish India’s first community workshop for printmaking as a space where creatives could learn from each other’s experiences. Kar participated in the 1970 Smithsonian Printmaking Workshop led by Paul Lingren (Nebraska, USA; 1923-1989) alongside Indian printmakers including Devraj Dakoji, Amitabha Banerjee, and K. Laxma Goud.