Artnet PRO regularly delves into the markets of artists who are being viewed anew by the market, from obscure historical figures whose influence has grown to hot names whose standing with some buyers has declined. Sometimes, just a particular slice of their work is our focus; other times, we take the full measure of their oeuvre. Our goal? To reveal what is happening behind the scenes, before anyone else. In addition to tapping the Artnet Price Database, we talk to dealers, advisors, and auction house experts for fresh perspectives—and then report back.
Read on for a roundup of the artists we surveyed this year.
1. F. N. Souza: At the Forefront of a Resurgence for Indian Modernists
Francis Newton Souza, Men In Boats (1945). Image courtesy Christie’s.
For the past 20 years, the market for artworks by Souza and other so-called Indian modernist painters has been thriving. However, it has also been somewhat concentrated, with specialists in that field driving demand for his bold, almost raw, imagery, which references the history of his native country.
In the last the half-dozen years, though, the market has been shifting, experts say, with Souza gaining popularity with a wider array of collectors. This year, marked the centenary of Souza’s birth. He and other Indian painters, including Syed Haider Raza and Amrita Sher-Gil, received prominent placement in the Venice Biennale, titled “Foreigners Everywhere,”
Demand “has grown in leaps and bounds over the last five to seven years, in terms of crossing borders and getting international recognition,” said Nishad Avari, Christie’s head of South Asian and modern art.
2. Willem de Kooning: His Late Works Were Once Overlooked; a Major Venice Show Changed That
Dan Budnik, Willem de Kooning in his East Hampton Studio, New York, 1971. ©2024 The Estate of Dan Budnik. All Rights Reserved. Artwork © 2024 The Willem de Kooning Foundation, SIAE
By the time that the artist died in 1997, at the age of 92, Willem de Kooning was firmly established as one of the 20th century’s greatest artists. A major show that opened in April at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, alongside the Venice Biennale, put a spotlight on a lesser-known aspect of his remarkable career: two trips that the Dutch-born Abstract Expressionist made to Italy, in 1959 and 1969.
“The more I looked, the more I became convinced that these two periods in Rome were very important and that de Kooning had a longstanding interest in Italian culture and art,” said Gary Garrels, the former SFMOMA senior curator who co-organized the show with Mario Codognato, the chief curator of the Madre museum in Naples.
Read More: Willem de Kooning’s Late Works Were Once Undervalued. Not Anymore.
3. Vilhelm Hammershoi: Is the Danish Painter Benefitting From the “Vermeer” Effect?
Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior of Woman Placing Branches in Vase on Table (1900). Image courtesy Phillips.
Vilhelm Hammershøi has had a devoted and enthusiastic following for decades, but in recent years, his exposure and popularity—and his market—have reached new heights. Institutions, especially in North America, are clamoring for his quiet, intimate paintings of interiors, and scholars are studying his influence on successive generations of artists.
The artist’s works are undeniably reminiscent of those made in the 17th century by the Dutch master Johannes Vermeer, who had a record-breaking retrospective at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 2023. Experts say that the fever for Vermeer (whose paintings are almost all in museums) has helped to boost Hammershøi (whose art remains available to collectors).
Read More: Vilhelm Hammershoi’s Cool Interiors Are Hot With Collectors. Thank Vermeer.
4. Amrita Sher-Gil: A Pioneering Woman Who Was Part of the Navaratnas Group
Amrita Sher-Gil, The Storyteller (1937). Image courtesy Saffronart.
During Amrita Sher-Gil’s brief life, the Hungarian-Indian artist tirelessly embraced her passion for painting, creating groundbreaking works paintings that have influenced successive generations of painters and garnered intense market demand that far outstrips supply.
She was the only woman in the group known as the Navaratnas, the nine artists who are renowned as Indian national treasures. “It seems to me that I never began painting, that I have always painted,” the artist once said. “And I have always had, with a strange certitude, the conviction that I was meant to be a painter and nothing else.”
Recent inclusion of her work in the 2017 edition of Documenta in Kassel, Germany, and in this year’s Venice Biennale have spotlighted her work anew and introduced her to a wider audience.
Read More: Amrita Sher-Gil Was a Visionary Modernist. But Export Rules Are Complicating Her Market Surge
5. Louis Fratino: Compelling Interiors With Intriguing Narratives Create a Long Wait List
Book jacket by Louis Fratino. Image courtesy the artist and Magic Hour Press.
Louis Fratino, a painter from Baltimore who turned 30 last year, was already a global phenomenon before his debut at the Venice Biennale in April drew even more attention to his wide-ranging body of work.
His works are immediately compelling, drawing you into a self-contained universe that is rich with art-historical references. His subjects include quiet but emotionally resonant interior scenes and nude men embracing one another or engaging in sexual acts in scenes that feel tender and intimate.
Read More: Louis Fratino Is A Star of the Venice Biennale. Good Luck Getting One of His Paintings.
6. Henri Matisse: A Second Look at the Master Painter’s Late Work
Alvin Langdon Coburn, portrait of Henri Matisse, 1913. Via Wikimedia Commons.
It was a great summer for Matisse fans, with several major shows running at prestigious venues around the world. “Matisse and Renoir: New Encounters” was at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, “Matisse: The Red Studio” was at the Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris after an acclaimed run at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and “Miró Matisse: Beyond Images” was at the Matisse Museum in Nice, France.
But while the Fauvist master of color is an undisputed master of 20th-century art history, his market has a surprising number of quirks. There are staggering price gaps at the top end of his auction results (most of his major paintings are ensconced in museum collections); now, his later, bolder works are coming into vogue, after once being sidelined. Meanwhile, there is a thriving trade in his works on paper, particularly for his late collages and cut-out paper works.
Read More: To Art History, Matisse Is A Master. To The Market, It’s a More Complicated Story.