Huge demand for Indian sculptor’s bronzes in London

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Sculptor Dhruva Mistry, who spent 16 years in Britain before moving back to India, was one of the first successful breakthrough Indian artists in the UK. His largescale sculptures, like the River in Birmingham, Sitting Bull in Liverpool, and Diagram of an Object (Second State) at Churchill College in Cambridge, are prominent public features in the British cities they are sited in.
An exhibition of Mistry’s bronze sculptures, created between 1987 and 1990, has been launched at Grosvenor Vadhera Gallery in London. The 26 sculptures being exhibited are from the personal collection of influential British art gallery owner Nigel Greenwood, who was the first to exhibit the sculptures of Mistry.
Fifty-four-year-old Mistry moved to Britain as a student in 1981 after being awarded a scholarship for the Royal College of Art. He also was an artist-in-residence at Kettle’s Yard Gallery with a fellowship at Churchill College in the Cambridge University.
“The interest in Dhruva Mistry’s exhibition has been overwhelming,” Conor MacKlin of Grosvenor Gallery said. “There have been many inquiries about Dhruva too, but he could not travel to London due to the effects of a stroke in 2008.”
He was essentially more famous than Anish Kapoor, Indian-born British sculptor, in the 1980s and 1990s, MacKlin said, adding that Mistry lost out to the newer and rising talent, both in India and Britain, after his decision to leave London for India in 1997. Mistry returned to India in 1997 and joined his alma mater University of Baroda in 1999 as the head of sculpture and dean in the Faculty of Fine Arts until 2002.
“This marked a turning point in Mistry’s career as he sacrificed his career in the London art world. The return to academia enriched his sensibilities but resulted in less time for his work. At the same time a newer generation of ambitious younger artists began to dominate the burgeoning Indian art scene,” the gallery said. The bronze sculptures have been priced between £10,000 and £1,500, with Moving Mountain 2, the most expensive at £10,000. Some of the sculptures had already attracted buyers even before the opening of the exhibition. Woman (Study for River), priced at £6,000, is a maquette and part of a huge public sculpture at the Victoria Square in Birmingham, Mistry’s most iconic work in Britain.