London-based Anish Kapoor tops Hurun India Art List, with Rs 44.39-crore sales in 2019

The list is a ranking of the top 50 Indian artists alive today, based on the sales of their works at public auction in the year ended December 31, 2019.

London-based Anish Kapoor stands at the top in the Hurun India Art List 2020 compiled by the China-based company in association with art statistics expert Artprice.com.

The list is a ranking of the top 50 Indian artists alive today, based on the sales of their works at public auction in the year ended December 31, 2019.

Kapoor, 66, tops the list for the second time having sold his works at auction last year for Rs 44.39 crore. Kapoor is known for using granite, marble, limestone and plaster to make geometric structures. He is the only artist to own the exclusive right to use the ‘blackest black’ pigment in the world developed by Vantablack.

Rameshwar Broota (79) holds second place, with total sales of Rs 11.89 crore. A New Delhi-based artist, Broota’s work revolves around paintings of male bodies. With total sale of Rs 6.87 crore this year, modernist painter Krishen Khanna (95) is the third most accomplished living Indian artist. Kashmir-born Raqib Shaw (46) comes fourth with his works grossing a turnover of Rs 5.42 crore. At the fifth place, Arpita Singh (83) is the highest-ranked female Indian artist having sold for a total of Rs 5.09 crores.

However, total sales of the Hurun India Art List came to Rs 108.71 crore, down 63.4% compared with last year. Total lots sold were 444, down 161, led by Krishen Khanna with 41 lots.

Anas Rahman Junaid, managing director and chief researcher of Hurun Report India said, “Despite India now having more millionaires than ever before, Covid-19, the 2008 financial crisis and demonetization have all slowed down the art market here. India’s art auction market still only represents 0.4% of the global art auction market, behind the US, China and the UK, which enjoy 35%, 31% and 15% of $13.3 billion market”.

Interesting facts in the art list includes statistics like Goa-born Francis Souza’s artwork named ‘Birth’ is the most expensive Indian painting that has been sold till date. It was auctioned in Sept 2015, when it fetched Rs 26 crores on sale. Kapoor’s artwork named Orbit is the tallest art sculpture in the UK, with a height of 115 metres. This was an artwork created by him for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

However, Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Global, thinks that Indian art is undervalued. “As India becomes richer, with more families with the ability to collect, the value of India art should increase,” he added.