The British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor’s had his first work ever to come up at auction in India on Wednesday, 24 February. The 1.4m-tall stainless steel concave sculpture, Untitled (2005), achieved 40m rupees/$588,240 or $705,882 including buyer’s premium (est $588,240-$882,355) at Saffronart auction house’s Modern and contemporary art evening sale in Mumbai—the artist’s hometown.
A similar concave piece in gold-plated steel sold at Christie’s post-war and contemporary art sale in London last October for £422,858, or £518,500 including buyer’s premium (est £500,000-£700,000). Kapoor is also known for his mammoth public sculptures, such as the inflatable globe installation Leviathan that occupied the Grand Palais in Paris in 2011 or his sculpture Dirty Corner installed at the Palace of Versailles this year. His presence in the Saffronart auction this week “provided a strong anchor for the contemporary section [and generated] excitement for collectors worldwide”, Hugo Weihe, the CEO of Saffronart, said in a press statement.
The auction included works by other internationally known Indian artists such as Bharti Kher and Subodh Gupta, with 63 of 80 lots sold, for a sell-through rate of 83% and a total of $7.4m including buyer’s premium. The top lot was VS Gaitonde’s rust-coloured abstract painting Untitled, which went for $944,830 or $1.1m including buyer’s premium.
