2008 Hurun Contemporary Art List
March 1 2008, Beijing 1 March 2008, Capital Museum China, Beijing. Today sees the launch of
Hurun Report’s first dedicated art list, in
partnership with Artron.
The decision to launch this list derives from the phenomenal growth in the
Chinese art market in the last few years, the emergence of artists themselves as
a notable new group of wealth creators within the Chinese economy and the
increased buying power of the Chinese elite. “China’s richest are now looking
for new ways to spend their money“, says Rupert Hoogewerf, publisher of Hurun
Report, a leading luxury business magazine in China. “Collecting art, especially
Chinese art, demonstrates sophistication and earns social status.”
While interest in Chinese contemporary art was until recently almost exclusively
a preserve of foreigners living and working in China, a January 2008 Hurun
Report research report revealed that collecting contemporary art had become the
leading hobby among China’s new rich.
Hurun Report here presents two main lists, one of artists and one of works of
art. The first list has fifty artists, ranked by the total volume of sales of
their work at public auction in the year 2007.
In top spot is 89-year old Wu Guangzhong, whose paintings raised a total of
US$49.3m, followed by 50-year old Zhang Xiaogang at US$38.4m and 87-year old
Zhao Wuji at US$37.85m. Although the age of artists on the list ranges from Bai
Xueshi at 93 to Zeng Chuanxing at 34, the preponderance is of painters in oils
in the their middle age. Interestingly the only sculptor on the list is the
Taiwanese Zhu Ming and the highest-ranked Chinese ink painter is Fan Zeng, at
15. Overall there are only ten painters in Chinese ink in the top 50, although I
would suspect that this medium would play a greater role lower down the
rankings.
As for the list of the top 100 works of art transacted in the year 2007, the
number one place is a bit misleading, since it goes to Cai Guoqiang for 14
‘paintings’ made with gunpowder. The rest of the top ten represent works in oil
by the leading ‘grand old men’ of China’s oil painting movement, most notably
the expatriate abstract expressionist Zhao Wuji (he lives in Paris) and Wu
Guanzhong, both in their late eighties. Chen Danqing and Zhang Xiaogang are the
leading figures of the generation now in their fifties and Yue Minjun appeared
on a recent cover of Time magazine, confirming his status as a poster-boy for
the younger, more pop-oriented generation.
Although prices for Chinese contemporary art have been soaring, its proponents
argue that it has plenty of upside potential. They compare prices for Chinese
art with the reported GBP50 million achieved by Britain’s Damien Hirst for his
work ‘The Love of God’ in 2007, or more realistically perhaps with prices in the
millions regularly achieved at auction in London and New York by artists such as
Jeff Koons or Martin Kippenberger. Its detractors might counter by pointing out
that oil painting is not securely rooted in Chinese culture and will eventually
give way to ink painting, while also pointing to the prices of contemporary art
in more developed economies such as Korea and Japan, which have remained
considerably less speculative.
It would be a mistake of course to read too much into the figures attached to
either artists or works of art in these two lists. Both sets of figures include
transaction costs such as auction house commissions and may to some extent be
affected by a fondness for ramping the prices of certain artists. Certainly
there is a great deal of confusion today as to how much the works of given
artists should command, given that it is possible to buy works at the same time
from the artist himself (there is by the way only one woman, Chen Peiqiu, on
these two lists), his gallery or at auction. Any prospective collectors would be
advised to seek professional advice and, just as in the equity or housing
markets, try to seek currently undervalued assets with long-term potential.
Key Statistics of 2008 Hurun Chinese Contemporary Artist List
• According to Artron, US$3.3 billion worth of Chinese art was sold at public
auction world wide in 2007, a 29.1 percent rise on the previous year.
• In 2007, the top 50 artists sold a total of US$498 million at public auction.
• Average age of artist is 57 years.
• Geographical capital of art. Beijing is the unquestioned capital of art for
China, with 31 artists currently basing themselves there, followed by five in
Europe and four in each of Shanghai and Sichuan.
• Most popular art colleges. China Central Academy of Fine Arts has produced 19
of the artists on the list, followed by seven from the Sichuan Fine Arts
Institute and two from each of Hangzhou National College of Art and Shanghai
Fine Arts School. Only two of the top 50 artists did not graduate from art
college: Taiwanese sculptor Zhu Ming and Chinese ink painter Bai Xueshi.
• Birthplaces. Six artists were born in Beijing, five in Jiangsu, followed by
four in each of Heilongjiang and Sichuan.
• The minimum turnover required to make our list was US$2.39 million.
• Price per square foot: Wu Guangzhong’s pieces fetched the highest price per
square foot in 2007, averaging US$125,000 per sq ft, followed by Jin Shangyi at
US$107,000 per sq ft and Zhang Xiaogang at US$98,400 per sq ft. The price per sq
ft is a measure widely used in China as a reference point when determining the
value of a painting.
• Methodology. The scope of the list refers to artists from Mainland China, Hong
Kong, Macao and Taiwan that are alive today. The list tracks their works sold at
public auction anywhere in the world during 2007.
Key Statistics of 2008 Hurun Chinese Contemporary Works of Art Ranking
• In 2007, the top 100 works of art sold in total for US$185 million at public
auction.
• Of the top 100 works of art sold in 2007, Zhao Wuji had 14 pieces and both Yue
Minjun and Zhang Xiaogang 11 pieces each.
• It took a work of art with a value of at least US$1 million to make our list.
• The average work of art was produced eighteen years ago in 1990.
• Art auction houses: Christies HK dominated the market in 2007, selling 27
works of art on our list, followed by Beijing Poly with 17, Sotheby’s HK 15,
Sotheby’s NY 10 and Taiwan’s Ravenel with 7. Mainland Chinese auction houses,
led by Beijing Poly, are gaining ground.
Size of Market - More billionaires than anywhere other than the US
Dramatically led by 106 US dollar billionaires, the ninth anniversary edition of
the Hurun Rich List, released in Oct 2007, has more US dollar billionaires than
any country outside the US. This is up from fifteen billionaires in 2006 and
none in 2002. The cut-off required to make the 2007 Hurun Rich List was US$105
million, and featured 300 new faces to bring the total number to 800
individuals. The average wealth has doubled to US$562 million. For more
information on the Hurun Rich List, please refer to http://www.hurun.net/listreleaseen25.aspx
.
About Artron
Artron.com is an online art index tracking sales of Chinese art through public
auction. Since its establishment in 1993, Artron has evolved from a high-end art
catalogue printer into the leading source of information on Chinese art sales.
For further details, refer to www.artron.net.
more on 2008 Hurun Chinese Contemporary Art List
and 2008 Hurun Chinese Contemporary Works of Art
Ranking