This week we’re back to our data-diving series. What can we say? The collected information we have on record is simply too fascinating to resist sharing.
Today we are looking at the early bloomers; artists who were discovered before the age of 20.
To clarify, “discovered” in this context refers to artists who participated in an exhibition before, or at the age of 20. As it turns out, there are quite a few young high-achievers that fall into this category, so we’ve whittled it down to the top 20 for you.
Sigmar Polke (1941)
Ranking: 9
Age at first exhibition: 19
Sol LeWitt (1928)Ranking: 16
Age at first exhibition: 19
Anish Kapoor (1954)Ranking: 94
Age at first exhibition: 20
Markus Lüpertz (1941)Ranking: 106
Age at first exhibition: 19
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960)Ranking: 166
Age at first exhibition: 20
Jean Arp (1886)Ranking: 185
Age at first exhibition: 20
Simon Denny (1982)Ranking: 220
Age at first exhibition: 20
Roni Horn (1955)Ranking: 233
Age at first exhibition: 20
Urs Fischer (1973)Ranking: 308
Age at first exhibition: 19
Hélio Oiticica (1937)Ranking: 346
Age at first exhibition: 20
Andrea Fraser (1965)Ranking: 350
Age at first exhibition: 19
Miquel Barceló (1957)Ranking: 602
Age at first exhibition: 19
Marta Minujín (1943)Ranking: 699
Age at first exhibition: 18
Adam Pendleton (1984)Ranking: 732
Age at first exhibition: 20
Peter Kogler (1959)Ranking: 738
Age at first exhibition: 20
Tauba Auerbach (1981)Ranking: 744
Age at first exhibition: 20
Robert Delaunay (1885)Ranking: 761
Age at first exhibition: 20
Amy Sillman (1966)Ranking: 788
Age at first exhibition: 18
Ryoji Ikeda (1966)Ranking: 789
Age at first exhibition: 19
A closer look at a few of those featured:
The first exhibition that Sigmar Polke participated in; Grafike Svjetskih Suvremenih Umjetnika – Revolucija Dvjesto Godina Poslije (1960) at the The Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik, also included the likes of Georg Baselitz, Richard Serra and Barbara Kruger amongst others. It took Polke 7 years to be ranked in the top 1000 artists.
The first exhibition that Jean-Michel Basquiat participated in; The Times Square Show (1980) also included other top rankers; Kiki Smith and Alex Katz. It took Basquiat just 3 years to be ranked in top 1000 artists.
The first exhibition that Roni Horn participated in was a solo: Roni Horn – inner geography (1975) at Yale University Art Gallery. It took Horn 16 years to be ranked in the top 1000 artists.
Female artists fared slightly better in this query in comparison to some of our previous ones, making up a whopping 25%. The five female artists in this list are: Roni Horn, Andrea Fraser, Marta Minujín,Tauba Auerbach and Amy Sillman– check them out.
This list is also slightly more diverse, with artists’ nationalities covering a spectrum that includes Germany, USA, India, Brazil, Argentina, France and Japan.
Lastly, for these talents who exhibited at such a young age, we were curious to see what the timeline was for them to be ranked in the top 1000 artists. With timings varying all the way from 0 to 54 years, the average was 11.85 years.
We find it encouraging to see that they weren’t all overnight sensations; there’s still time for everyone.
Let’s make history happen.
The Artfacts Team