Cui Ruzhuo, 73, Top Chinese Artist Alive with Sales Last Year of US$117m

Zeng Fanzhi sales up 28%, came in second; Fan Zeng sales up 38%, back to third

Ai Weiwei makes list for first time, with sales of US$2.25m

Average sales are lowest of last ten years

232 artists have made the list in the past 10 years, led by 16, who have been on it every year

Leading authority on wealth in China releases 10th anniversary of Hurun Art List

• Cui Ruzhuo, 73, tops the Hurun Art List for the third consecutive year, with sales up 5% to US$117m. A 2013 piece by Cui became the most expensive Chinese work of art sold at public auction last year, selling for US$37m. In fact, half of the Top 10 most expensive Chinese work by artists alive today sold at public auction last year are by Cui Ruzhuo.

• Zeng Fanzhi, 53, was second with sales of US$20.5m.Zeng has kept a Top 6 place for each of the ten years of the Hurun Art List.

• Fan Zeng, 79, up 38% to US$18.8m, up one place to 3.

• Fastest riser. Wang Huaiqin, 73, saw his sales rise triple to shoot him into sixth spot with US$12.4m, propelling him into the Top 10 for the first time, up from 54 last year.

• 10 years of the Hurun Art List.  232 artists have made the list in the past 10 years. Of these 12 have since died and 16 have been on the list every  year. Rupert Hoogewerf says, “There have been surprisingly few artists, who have made the list over the past ten years, numbering as little as 232. This shows how the Hurun Art List has really only ranked the crème de le crème of the Chinese contemporary art world.”

• Average sales are the lowest in the past 10 years. Total sales are the fifth year running down, 8% off last year to US$489.8m, 60% off the high water mark of 2012. Chinese ink decreased 16% yoy, while oil increased 8%. Cut off to the Top 100 decreased 36% to US$820,000.

• Total Sales of 48 artists declined, 52 increased, of which there were 30 new faces.

• Chinese ink painters make up half of the list, one less than last year with 53. 4 out of top 10 are Chinese ink painters, down 3. Oil painters made up 47 of the list, up 4. 3 artists dabbled in both Chinese ink and oil.

• Average works sold 40, down 40%. For Chinese ink painters, the average number of works sold was 66, drops 40%. For oil painters, it was 12, half of last year.

• 3 sculptors made the list: Zhu Ming, ranked 18 with sales of US$7m from Taiwan, Xu Hongfei, ranked 22 with sales of US$5.5 from Guangdong and Li Zhen ranked 62 with sales of US$1.9 from Sichuan. Only 7 sculptors have made the Hurun Art List over the past decade.

• 30 new faces, of which 14 made the list for the first time, led by Wang Haili, 58, who shot straight into the Top 10.

• Average age 64 years, same as last year.

• Youngest artists. 11 under the age of 50, 2 less than last year. Huang Yuxing, 42, makes the list for first time with US$840,000. Jia Aili remains the youngest artist at 38 with sales of US$1m. 3 of them made the Top 50, 3 less than last year.

• 4 above 90 years, same as last year, led by Rao Zongyi aged 100, sales with US$5.03m, ranks 24.

• By Residences, Beijing is the absolute king, with 47 artists living there, followed byGuangdong. Tianjin grew by 4 to 7, into third place. Jiangsu is the biggest decliner, losing 4 artists to take it into 6th place. Compared with ten years ago, the USA has overtaken France as the preferred place to live for Chinese artists outside of China.

• Places of origin. Beijing ranks the top spot with 13 artists. Shandong grew by 5 to 11, tied with Guangdong for second place.

• Female artists. 4 of the Top 100 are female, one more than last year, led by Chen Peiqiu, 95, ranks 23 with sales of US$5.44m. The others are Xu Lele, 62, ranks 67, and Lou Zhenggang, 50, ranks 82 and Yan Ping, 61, who made the list for the first time, ranks 97. 10 female artistshave made the Hurun Art List over the past decade in total.

• Schools. The China Central Academy of Fine Arts continues to lead with 23 artists.

• Auction houses. Poly Auction Hong Kong had 4 of the Top 10 most expensive works of art, followed by Sotheby’s Hong Kong with 2, China Guardian, Poly Auction Beijing, China Council, Hangzhou Jiashi with 1 respectively.

• 36 artists have made the list seven times or more in the past 10 years, led by 16, who have been on it every year: Ai Xuan, Zeng Fanzhi, Chen Peiqiu, Fan Zeng, Fang Lijun, He Jiaying, Huang Yongyu, Jin Shangyi, Liu Ye, Luo Zhongli, Wang Mingming, Wang Yidong, Yang Feiyun, Zhang Xiaogang, Zhou Chunya and Zhu Ming.

• Collectors. There are 2056 individuals, up 179, with US$300m or more, according to the Hurun China Rich List 2016. There are 609 Chinese dollar billionaires, pulling away from the USA for the second year, of which 501 from Mainland China, 72 from Hong Kong, 1 from Macao and 35 from Taiwan, according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2017. Beijing was the billionaire capital of the world, ahead of New York, HK and Shenzhen.

• 2017 is the tenth anniversary of the Hurun Art List.

(10 March 2017, Shanghai) The Hurun Research Institute, in association with Artron, today launched theHurun Art List 2017, a ranking of the top 100 Chinese artists alive today based on the sales of their works at public auction in the year ending 31 December 2016. Artron, China’s largest compiler of art statistics, provided the data. This is the consecutive tenth year of the Hurun Art List.

Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said, “Whilst there’s plenty of money sloshing around in China, collectors have had a noticeable lack of enthusiasm for contemporary art in the past year. Having said that, I feel there has been a 10% rebound in interest in the past few months, suggesting that the market has bottomed out, and giving it a good platform to grow for the next ten years.”

This is an English language summary of the full Chinese press release which can be found atwww.hurun.net. Please note percentage changes of the sales totals is using the Chinese Yuan figures comparing this year and last. For media inquiries please contact our public relations team whose contact details can be found at the end of this report.

Top 10

Whilst the Top 2 remained unchanged, there were 4 new entries into the Top 10 this year.

 Table: Hurun Art List 2017– Top 10

Source: Hurun Research Institute with data provided by Artron

↑ Rank increase yoy  ↓ Rank decrease yoy  - No Rank change yoy  * New to Top 10

Cui Ruzhuo, 73, tops the Hurun Art List for the third consecutive year with sales at public auction last year of US$117m. A 2013 piece by Cui was the most expensive Chinese work of art sold at public auction last year, selling for US$37 million. In fact, half of the Top 10 most expensive works of art by a Chinese artist alive today sold at public auction last year are by Cui.

Zeng Fanzhi, 53, retained second place with sales of US$20.5m. He is the most stable artist in a decade of Hurun Art List, which kept the position of Top 6.

Fan Zeng, 79, up 38% on last year to US$18.8m, up one place to third. Fan has made the Top 3 every year other than last year, when he was fourth.

TABLE: Youngest artists of the Hurun Art List 2017

Source: Hurun Research Institute with data provided by Artron.

↑ Rank increase yoy  ↓ Rank decrease yoy  * New to the list

              Where they live                                                                           Where they were born

Source: Hurun Research

↑ Rank increase yoy  ↓ Rank decrease yoy * New Entry - No Rank change yoy 

TABLE: Fastest-Growing Artists from the Hurun Art List 2017 

Source: Hurun Research Institute with data provided by Artron.

Number of Chinese Ink Painters versus Oil Painters

The years ago, oil painters dominated with three quarters of the list. Then it swung the other way with ink painters dominating with 70% of the list.  Today it is almost half half. 

Source: Hurun Research Institute with data provided by Artron

Stats

Hurun Art List 2017 

Source: Hurun Research

About AMMA（Art Market Monitor of ARTRON）, World’s Leading Data Service for the Chinese Art Market

AMMA, a subsidiary of ARTRON GROUP, is a research center committed to Chinese art market monitoring and analysis. Our research and consulting services are on the basis of the Chinese art market，focus on data monitoring, market research, analysis of investment revenue and value consultation service . AMMA’s research services is based on the Artron Chinese Artworks Database, recording over 4,500,000 Chinese artworks auction results from over 900 auction houses and 20,000 since 1993. Under the premise of fully understand Chinese art market, AMMA uses statistical and economical method to analyse data objectively, and provides related services.. With the powerful database advantages and professional authority of art market data analysis ability, AMMA is assigned to be the Data monitoring of Chinese art market of The People's Republic of China ministry of culture market department, the price assessment of Palace Museum of cultural relics art, the database research of Administration bureau of Beijing art market, the research partners of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Broadcasting and television and Guangdong cultural art market, research partners of Renmin University of China art financial research institution and the partners of Artprice and Larry 's List.

AMMA’s parent company Artron.net, launched in October 2000, Artron.Net is the world's leading Chinese art website and China's largest comprehensive art service platform. Positioned as a professional platform service provider for the art industry based on Internet technology, it offers information, data, and trading platforms to artists, craft artists, designers, auction houses, galleries, antique shops, craft shops, buyers and all art lovers around the globe.

Boasting a professional membership of more than 2,000,000 people, Artron.Net attracts over 8,000,000 daily views, with its peak being 15,000,000 per day. It is among Alexa's top 300 sites in China and ranks No.1 among the world's art websites.

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Feel free to contact us at amma@artron.net for further information

About Hurun Report Inc.

since 1999

Established as a research unit in 1999, Hurun Report Inc. has grown into a leading media group targeted at China and India high net worth individuals. Its flagship is the Hurun China Rich List and, since 2012, the Hurun Global Rich List. Headquartered in Shanghai, Hurun Report has offices in Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Sanya, London, Los Angeles, Chicago and Cochin, Kerala, in India.

Hurun Report Inc has five divisions.

Hurun Research (‘Nobody Knows China’s Rich Better’) has grown to become the world’s leading authority when it comes to understanding the Chinese high net worth individual. Recent reports include partnering with some of China’s most important financial institutions, local government, multinationals and luxury brands, including Bank of China, Taikang, Minsheng Bank, Minsheng Financial Leasing, Industrial Bank of China and the Changbaishan government.

Hurun Media (‘The Voice of Chinese Entrepreneurship’) reaches between one and two million unique viewers a week through its multi-platform distribution. Hurun Media has four key media brands, led by Hurun Report (business and entrepreneurship), Hurun Education, Hurun Art and Hurun Health. Its flagship business media Hurun Report has an active WeChat social media, an online business talk show, and PC- and Mobile-friendly Hurun.net.

Hurun Conferences and Training hosts over 100 events across China every year, led by its flagships in Beijing and Shanghai every year.  Hurun Conferences and Training brings Chinese entrepreneurs aboard, to the US, London, Singapore, Australia and India. Hurun Business School started in 2016.

Hurun International. Hurun Report Inc established its India business in 2012, which today is best-known for the Hurun India Rich List, Hurun India Philanthropy List and for hosting events with some of India’s most respected entrepreneurs.

Hurun Investments includes a CNY 100m early-stage venture capital fund, and strategic investments in media, education, media, classic cars, financial services and luxury.

For further information, see www.hurun.net

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