Anish Kapoor, widely considered one of the most important artists alive today.
Anish Kapoor is a prominent contemporary artist best-known for his sculptures and installation artworks. Rising to fame in the 1980s with art that incorporated biomorphic forms and reflective surfaces, Kapoor is now widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of his generation.
This is reflected in his work’s enduring popularity at auction; primarily considered a sculptor, Kapoor’s 2003 piece, Alabaster, sold for £1.72 million in July 2008. The artist has also made forays into printmaking, and prints currently account for a respectable 35% of his work sold at auction, usually reaching prices between £1,000 and £5,000.
Below is a list of Anish Kapoor’s six most expensive prints sold at auction. If you own an Anish Kapoor print and would like to know more about how much it may be worth, or how to sell it, why not contact Mark Littler today?
Free Specialist Print Valuations
Please use the form below to submit images of your print and receive a free, no-obligation valuation from a specialist auctioneer. We will also actively seek the highest offer from our network of private collectors to help you sell your print.
"*" indicates required fields
Shadow III
Much of Anish Kapoor’s work is centred around dichotomies and dualities, with many of his sculptures, for instance, exploring the relationship between opposites such as light and dark, or the solid and the intangible. This series from 2009 furthers that exploration, being made up of nine vibrant etchings where saturated colour gradually fades into a central luminous white strip. The prints are regularly among Kapoor’s most sought-after at auction, and this particular portfolio was sold by Artcurial in December 2017 for £33,476
Shadow III sold by Artcurial in 2017
Fold, I
Folds are another theme Anish Kapoor has regularly explored in his work, both in two- and three-dimensional forms. This etching in colours was created on two sheets of paper, with a central fold in the middle, and it was sold by Sotheby’s in September 2018 for £30,000.
The artist believes “There were two great discoveries in the Renaissance”, one being perspective, and the other, “just as important”, being “the fold.” These folds are those found in the painstakingly detailed clothes depicted in many Renaissance paintings. The artist continued explaining his interest in the fold by asking, “What is the fold? It is, of course, a definition of being. It says being. It says person. Now, the strange thing about this material [referring to Vantablack, an ultra-black colour Kapoor has exclusive access to] is that you put it on a fold, and you can’t see the fold… My proposition is that this material is therefore beyond being.”
Fold, I sold by Sotheby’s in 2018
Shadow
This series of nine etchings in colours dates from 2007 – two years before Shadow III – and the luminescent central lines are vertical rather than horizontal, but otherwise, the two series are very similar, and both are extremely popular at auction. As with much of Kapoor’s work, the idea of the series was to create an optical illusion, playing with the viewer’s perception of whether the prints are two- or three-dimensional. The series was sold by Sotheby’s in March 2010 for £26,000.
Shadow sold by Sotheby’s in 2010
12 Etchings
The same year that he worked on Shadow, Kapoor also created this series of 12 colour etchings, which were sold by Sotheby’s in September 2010 for £25,000. The prints feature Kapoor’s usual organic, almost amoeba-like forms and array of vibrant pigments (which he was apparently inspired to use after travelling through India in 1979).
To make the series, Kapoor worked closely with Peter Kosowicz from Thumbprint Editions; eventually, the decision was made to select 15 plates and print them in black and white (a series known as History), and then choose 12 of these 15 plates and ink them in colour to make 12 Etchings. It was a painstaking process, with Kosowicz stating that it was “difficult to retain the soft edges of Kapoor’s forms whilst at the same time keeping their tone strong.”
12 Etchings sold by Sotheby’s in 2010
Shadow II
Sitting between Shadow I and Shadow III is Shadow II, a series of nine prints from 2008 which, like the other two series, explores the interplay between light, colour, and shadows. The portfolio was sold by Phillips de Pury & Company in February 2012 for £24,000.
According to Paragon Press, who published the three portfolios, “from the outset [Kapoor] envisaged the Shadow etchings as a sequence of separate series, which would allow him to explore a combination of different formal vehicles with varying colours. Each series is part of a larger continuum.”
Shadow II sold by Phillip’s in 2012
Horizon Shadow
Anish Kapoor has said: “I’ve always felt that, in the end, I have nothing to say as an artist. I don’t really have some message for the world… I do whatever I can to avoid meaning.” It can, indeed, be hard to find the meaning in some of Kapoor’s work, which is often designed more as a visual experience than a vehicle for spreading any message or idea.
These prints from 2010, for instance, have many similarities with the Shadow I-III portfolios, but there is no obvious meaning behind them. Rather, like much of Kapoor’s work, they explore ideas of colour, perception, and the void. The prints were sold by Phillips in September 2022 for £21,000.
Horizon Shadow sold by Phillips in 2022
