The art scene in India has always been vibrant and diverse, with a rich history spanning centuries. The art market in India has witnessed remarkable growth in recent years, and several talented painters have emerged as top-selling artists. In the years 2022-2023, these artists captivated the art world with their unique styles, innovative approaches, and compelling narratives. Their paintings resonated with collectors and enthusiasts, leading to high demand and significant sales. In this article, we will introduce you to some of the top-selling painters of 2022-2023 in India, who have made a significant impact on the art market and garnered widespread recognition for their exceptional talent and artistic vision.
Female Artists
Total Female Artists: 126
Average Price for Female Artists: Rs. 12.3L
Top 3 Female Artists
1. Arpita Singh
Turnover: Rs. 15.9 Cr
Works Sold: 10
Sell Through Rate: 83.3%
Arpita Singh is one of the first women artists to introduce the domestic life of Indian women to the world. She is famous for capturing emotions and plights ranging from joy to sorrow, hope to dejection, hatred, societal subjugation and social injustice. Her works reflect stories like narratives of women, the problems of the world, and turmoil faced by humanity.
2. B. Prabha
Turnover: Rs. 7.8 Cr
Works Sold: 33
Sell Through Rate: 97%
B. Prabha was a prolific Indian artist who covered a wide range of subjects on socio-economic issues. She engaged herself in abstract paintings in the early phase of her art journey. The shift from pure abstraction to decorative figuration can be traced through her artworks. The elegance and elongated style in her works became her trademark throughout her artistic career. She used art to recognize, capture and fight against the plight of women in her country.
3. Meera Mukherjee
Turnover: Rs. 7.5 Cr
Works Sold: 7
Sell Through Rate: 87.5%
Meera Mukherjee is a prominent figure among modern Indian sculptors. Her work was also heavily influenced by elements of Bengali calligraphy, dance, music and nature. The subjects included weavers, laborers, fishermen, women stitching and other workers thus capturing the essence of the common man doing daily chores. Her sculptures reflected of a deeper, spiritual dimension that was the true essence of her work. There were two major elements that marked the spirit of Mukherjee’s work – the celebration of humanism and rejoicing in freedom and liberation.
New Female Artists
There were 56 new female artists that appeared for the first time at auction in FY23. These artists were responsible for the sale of 55 artworks that generated a turnover of Rs. 1.2 Cr. The highest performers among them were Nelly Sethna, Rumanna Hussain and Ganga Devi Bhatt.
1. Nelly Sethna
Turnover: Rs. 55.3 L
Works Sold: 1
Sell Through Rate: 100%
Nelly Sethna was born in 1932 in Bombay. She was an Indian weaver, textile designer, researcher, writer and crafts activist. Sethna’s historical tapestries offer a deeply insightful connection and a glimpse of the scale and materiality that the artworks retain. Her philosophy was drawn partly from Scandinavian modernism, courtesy of her Nordic mentors at the Cranbrook Academy, and the Arts and Crafts lineage of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, and it all came together in Sethna’s warps and wefts in the context of India.
2. Rummana Hussain
Turnover: Rs. 23 L
Works Sold: 1
Sell Through Rate: 100%
Rummana Hussain was born in 1952 in Bangalore. She was one of the pioneers of conceptual art and installations in India. Her oeuvre exists in two parts, one was her early figural works on canvas and paper from the 1980’s, and the other her pioneering installations, sculptures and performance works that were among the first in India. Her works are bold, poignant and provoking and are as relevant and essential today even when created almost a quarter-century ago.
3. Ganga Devi Bhatt
Turnover: Rs. 11.6 L
Works Sold: 2
Sell Through Rate: 100%
Ganga Devi Bhatt was born in 1928 in Bihar. Bhatt ventured into the art stream, creating work in a completely new idiom, with no formal or academic precedents, while still retaining some of the Bastar traditions. Working in a cooperative studio environment with like-minded artists, Bhatt’s main mediums are wood-carving and watercolors. She has produced monochromatic, low relief etchings on tree trunks or wooden plans, as well as a series of bright watercolors on paper.
Male Artists
Total Male Artists:508
Average Price for Male Artists: Rs. 32.2 L
Top 3 Male Artists
1. M.F Husain
Turnover: Rs. 133.1 Cr
Works Sold: 173
Sell Through Rate: 84.4%
Maqbool Fida Husain is one of the most powerful Indian Modernists. His works are spontaneous and natural with a powerful style. His artworks represent a mix of indigenism and modernism presenting Indian scenarios and bringing in his personal experiences. He reveals an incredible range of themes and creative energy through his artworks.
2. F.N. Souza
Turnover: Rs. 125.6 Cr
Works Sold: 200
Sell Through Rate: 94.3%
Francis Newton Souza is one of the founding members of the Progressive Artists Group. He is known for his powerful imagery and more often than not his art challenges the accepted notions of beauty and aesthetics. His art is rendered in his signature unrestrained style, inspired by Goan folk art. His repertoire comprises still-life studies, figuration and landscapes and is also heavily influenced by Christian iconography.
3. S.H. Raza
Turnover: Rs. 119.7 Cr
Works Sold: 109
Sell Through Rate: 92.4%
Syed Haider Raza is also one of the founding members of the Progressive Artists Group. His residing interest was in the realm of nature and its various complexities. His artworks featured was in the realm of nature and its various complexities. His artworks featured pure abstraction that was focused upon elements of nature – forests, nightscapes, studies of the countryside. Raza’s practice takes a new direction that depicts spirituality and Indian cosmology, all of which was represented in a visually spectacular palette, presented in its finest instances in a dense grid of geometric forms, in particular “Bindu”.
New Male Artists
There were 155 new male artists that appeared for the first time at auction in FY23. These artists were responsible for the sale of 178 artworks that generated a turnover of Rs 2 Cr. The Top 3 performers among them were Homi Jehangir Bhabha, Antonio Piedade da cruz and Subhash Awachat.
1. Homi Jehangir Bhabha
Turnover: Rs. 28.3 L
Works Sold: 3
Sell Through Rate: 100%
Homi Jehangir Bhabha was born in 1909 in Bombay. He was a professionally trained physicist but equally a serious painter and a great patron of arts. His passionate inclination towards drawing and painting resulted in sketches and portraits in a series of illustrations. He abandoned the academic style and adopted a more individualistic and expressive style. He became deeply interested in the volume and solidity of forms.
2. Antonio Piedade da Cruz
Turnover: Rs. 18.8 L
Works Sold: 1
Sell Through Rate: 100%
Antonio Piedade da Cruz was born in 1895 in the village of Velim in then Portugese India. He was an extraordinary Indian painter and sculptor whose work bridged Indian and European, academic and symbolic art traditions in the first half of the twentieth century. He was well known as one of Mumbai’s most sought-after portrait painters in the 1930s and 1940s, but he produced equally fine sculptures and symbolic paintings, especially those of political nature.
3. Subhash Awachat
Turnover: Rs. 9.2 L
Works Sold: 1
Sell Through Rate: 100%
Born in 1950 in Otus, Pune district, Awachat has donned many hats over his career as a writer, painter and designer. From the age of 16, he started designing book covers and started his career as a graphic designer. As proclaimed by him, colors are an integral part of his artistic dictionary. The colors of the farm, hills, ancient temples, forest, animals; his mother’s rangolis and wall paintings with a peacock feather – all left indelible impressions which find their way in his works.
These artists, among many others, made a significant impact on the art scene in India during this period, reflecting the diversity and talent of the country’s artistic landscape. With their unique styles, innovative approaches, and captivating narratives, they continue to redefine the boundaries of Indian art and inspire future generations of artists.
(This article is part of the Indian Art Market Report FY 2022-23. Download the full report here)
Feature Image Courtesy: taylorwells
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