Hurun Global Art List 2024

GERMAN ARTIST GERHARD RICHTER, 92, TOPPED HURUN GLOBAL ART LIST FOR THIRD YEAR RUNNING, WITH SALES LAST YEAR OF HIS WORKS OF ART AT PUBLIC AUCTION AROUND THE WORLD OF US$214MN  

JAPANESE ARTIST YAYOI KUSAMA, 95, WAS SECOND FOR THE SECOND YEAR RUNNING WITH US$190MN IN SALES BUT 2% DOWN FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR.THERE ARE 9 FEMALE ARTISTS ON THE LIST, ONE FEWER THAN LAST YEAR

AMERICAN POP ARTIST ED RUSCHA, 87, UP 7 PLACES TO THIRD, WITH SALES OF US$114MN, UP 153%

USA LED WITH 15 ARTISTS, FOLLOWED BY CHINA WITH 11 AND UK WITH 9. ‘BIG 3 ARTIST COUNTRIES’ ACCOUNTED FOR 70% OF LIST

TOTAL SALES OF THE WORKS OF HURUN GLOBAL ART LIST US$1.7BN, DOWN 10% 

4 ARTISTS, UP 1, SAW THEIR WORKS SOLD AT PUBLIC AUCTION FOR MORE THAN US$100MN

29 ARTISTS SAW THE SALES OF THEIR WORKS RISE, OF WHICH 15 WERE NEW FACES. 21 SAW THE SALES OF THEIR WORKS DROP

OF THE 15 NEW FACES, 4 FROM EACH OF CHINA, USA AND UK, THE OTHER 3 FROM IRELAND, SOUTH AFRICA AND INDIA

AVERAGE AGE WAS 67 YEARS OLD, 2 OLDER THAN LAST YEAR. 11 ARTISTS WERE 50 YEARS OR UNDER, 3 LESS THAN LAST YEAR

LEADING AUTHORITY ON GLOBAL WEALTH RELEASES HENGCHANG SHAOFANG ·  HURUN GLOBAL ART LIST 2024

(20 February 2025, Shanghai) The Hurun Research Institute today launched the HENGCHANG SHAOFANG · Hurun Global Art List 2024, a ranking of the Top 50 artists in the world alive today, based on the sales of their works at public auction in the year ending 31 December 2023. This is the fifth year of the Hurun Global Art List. 

Artprice.com provided the art auction data for non-China, whilst China data was from Chongqing Culture Art Industry Association, Artprice, Artron and ArtPro. The appendices contain the full Hurun Global Art List, together with the Hurun China Art List 2024 and Hurun India Art List 2024.

Global art auction sales in 2023 were down 14% to US$14.9bn, on the back of Western markets declining after a peak in 2022. The US, China and the UK accounted for 80% of the global art auction market performance, with the US art market down 28% year-on-year to US$5.2bn, but still No.1 in the world, and China's art market returning to pre-Covid levels, ranked second with US$4.9bn, according to the Artron Art Market Monitoring Center and Artprice's 2023 Art Market Report.

Hurun Chairman and Chief Researcher Rupert Hoogewerf said, “Hurun Research Institute has published the Hurun China Art List for 17 consecutive years, and this is the fifth year of the Hurun Global Art List. According to the Hurun Global Rich List, China has the most billion-dollar entrepreneurs in the world with 814, followed by the US with 800. In recent years, with the strengthening of the trend of globalization of Chinese enterprises and entrepreneurs, Chinese entrepreneurs have also begun to collect more works of overseas artists. We hope that our list can encourage more businesses and entrepreneurs with collecting potential to enter the field of art collecting. This list is designed to provide a third-party objective guide to which living artists are best recognized by the secondary market.”

“On the back of the uncertainty of the world political and economic situation in the past two years, the total turnover of the top 50 living artists on the Hurun Global Art List has dropped by more than 20% compared with two years ago. However, with the bull run  of the US market, the number of billionaires on the Hurun Global Rich List has returned to a near record level. I expect the Hurun Global Art List to hit new highs in the next three years.”

“In the past five years,  a total of 92 artists have appeared on the list. These artists on the list have become brands in their own rights.”

“In the past five years, a total of 20 Chinese artists have appeared on the Hurun Global Art List, an average of 11 Chinese artists per year. Among these 20 Chinese artists, oil painting artists occupy an absolute advantage, accounting for 75%. Liu Ye, Cui Ruzhuo, Zhou Chunya, Fan Zeng and Zeng Fanzhi have made the list for five consecutive years.”

“Women artists are showing unprecedented influence in the global auction market. According to the art market information company ArtPro, the total sales volume of female artists in 2023 was US$1.14bn, accounting for 8% of the global art market share, and the total volume and market share are the highest in the past decade. There are nine female artists on the list.”

“The sales volume of China's top three artists has more than doubled compared to last year, among which 60-year-old oil painting artist Liu Ye entered the global Top 10, mainly because there was an extra autumn auction last year, while many auction houses canceled autumn sales the year before due to the impact of the Covid-19.”

Deng Hong, Founder of Hengchang Shaofang, Global Premium Wines and Spirits Group, said: “We hope that the release of Hurun Global Art List 2024 will inspire more enterprises and entrepreneurs with potential to participate in art collection. Art should not only exist in the auction house or museum exhibition, but become an important part of corporate culture and spiritual pursuit. As an inheritor of Chinese baijiu culture, Hengchang Shaofang has always been rooted in unique brewing crafts and profound cultural heritage, and is committed to combining tradition and innovation to bring consumers a high-quality baijiu tasting experience.”

“At the upcoming 2025 Chengdu Spring Food & Drinks Fair, Hengchang Shaofang will be launching a limited edition - ‘Master Zhou Chunya’s Liquor’ - which is co-branded for the first time with contemporary artist Zhou Chunya. It is not only a tribute to traditional culture, but also an exploration and fusion of modern art. From the romance of the ‘Peach Blossom’ series to the resilience of the ‘Green Dog’ series, the bottle design of the collection ingeniously incorporates elements of Master Zhou Chunya's classic paintings. It is hoped that through this launch, more people will feel the charm of baijiu culture, and simultaneously create new vitality into the art collection field. The cultural and artistic attributes of Hengchang Shaofang have been fully demonstrated in the ‘Master Zhou Chunya’s Liquor - Limited Edition’. It is believed that it will not only be an exquisite work of art, but also a collector's item carrying profound cultural connotations.”

This is a brief English language summary of the full Chinese press release which can be found at www.hurun.net. For media inquiries please contact our public relations team whose contact details can be found at the end of this report.

Who made the Hurun Global Top 10 this year?

Three artists were new to the Top 10: British 55-year-old artist Cecily Brown, American 67-year-old George Condo, and Chinese 60-year-old oil artist Liu Ye. 

In the Top 10, there were 3 artists each from the USA and the UK, 2 artists from Japan, and 1 artist each from China and Germany.

Table: Hurun Global Art List 2024 – Top 10

Source: HENGCHANG SHAOFANG · Hurun Global Art List 2024

- No rank change  ↑Rank Increase yoy ↓Rank Decrease yoy  *New to the Top 10

German artist Gerhard Richter, 92, topped the list with US$214mn in sales 3 years in a row. He has been in the Top 3 for five years. A total of 318 Richter works were sold last year, including his 1987 abstract painting Abstraktes Bild. His works vary in style, including romanticism, photorealism, abstract expressionism, minimalism and pop art.

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, 95, was second again, with US$190mn in sales, down 2%. Kusama has been in the top 10 for five years. A total of 856 of her works were sold last year.

American pop artist Ed Ruscha, 87,up 7 places with US$114mn ranked 3rd, increased 153% in turnover. Most of his works associate the paintings with words with the Pop movement, and combine the local language with the urban landscape, with strong colors and great personality.

British artist David Hockney, 87, ranked 4th with US$100mn, down 43% from the previous year. Of the 1,085 Hockney works sold last year, the most expensive was Early Blossom, Woldgate worked in 2009. Hockney lives in Yorkshire, London and California. Known as the "Godfather of British art", his works make good use of two-dimensional pictures to reflect the three-dimensional world, so that the static picture reflects the movement and time, and the color visual impact is strong.

Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, 65, was 5th with US$88mn, down 1 places, with sales down 10%. A total of 430 works by Nara were sold last year. Nara's iconic painting of a beautiful, lonely little girl conveys a sentiment that resonates with young people around the world.

American pop artist Jasper Johns, 94, down 1 places ranked 6th with US$72mn in sales down 23%. Johns’ early works were inspired by some simple objects, such as flags, targets, letters, etc., while his later works used artistic concepts to give his works various avant-garde meanings.

British female artist Cecily Brown, 55, entered the Top 10 for the first time with US$47mn ranked 7th, up 9 places from last year. Brown explores sexuality in painting from a woman's perspective, and her work has a deep insight into the reality around it and is confronted with the psychological and introspective attitude of the human soul through intimate meditation.

American artist George Condo, 67, ranked 8th with US$46mn, up four places from last year and a 10% increase in turnover. Kondo's signature style was "mutant surrealism," often featuring squeezed cartoon faces and some improvisational hyperbole with Cubism.

Chinese oil painting artist Liu Ye, 60, entered the Top 10 for the first time with US$44mn, ranked 9th, up 31 places from last year, with a turnover increase of 238%, which is the biggest increase of artists on this year's list. Liu's paintings have the color of surrealism, which contains the universal concern for the basic emotions of human beings, the profound expression of different times and the current social reality, and the expression and inheritance of Chinese traditional aesthetic culture and artistic tradition.

British street artist Banksy, 50, ranked 10th with US$36mn, down four places from last year and a 47% drop in turnover. A total of 1,504 Banksy works were sold last year. Banksy is known for his satirical and playful style of art, and his works are seen on streets around the world, often drawing people to see them.

Table: World’s Top Living Artists by Country

The Hurun Top 50 came from 13 countries, as same as last year. Of these, 15 artists live in the US, 11 in China and 9 in the UK.

Source: HENGCHANG SHAOFANG · Hurun Global Art List 2024

- No rank change  ↑Rank Increase yoy ↓Rank Decrease yoy  *New

Table: Chinese artists on the Hurun Global Art List 2024

Source: HENGCHANG SHAOFANG · Hurun Global Art List 2024

Table: Female artists

Source: HENGCHANG SHAOFANG · Hurun Global Art List 2024

- No rank change  ↑Rank Increase yoy ↓Rank Decrease yoy  *New

Table: Youngest artists

Source: HENGCHANG SHAOFANG · Hurun Global Art List 2024

Table: Artists Growing Fastest – by Percentage Increase

Source: HENGCHANG SHAOFANG · Hurun Global Art List 2024

Table: Top 5 artists on the list with the most works sold

Source: HENGCHANG SHAOFANG · Hurun Global Art List 2024

Table: Top 5 artists on the list with the smallest number of works sold

Source: HENGCHANG SHAOFANG · Hurun Global Art List 2024

Table: Historical Data

Source: Hurun Research Institute

HENGCHANG SHAOFANG · Hurun Global Art List 2024

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Hurun China Art List 2024, Most Successful Chinese Living Artists

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Hurun India Art List 2024

Source: Hurun Research Institute

About Hengchang Shaofang

In 2017, Global Premium Wines and Spirits Group (GPWS) acquired Hengchang Shaofang brand in Maotai Town, creating a century old brand revival plan.

Hengchang Shaofang has been recognized by the market with its excellent quality and profound brand, and has always followed the brand development strategy of "quality, brand, scale and long-term", and continued to focus on the long-term development goal of ‘growing good sorghum and making good wine’.  

In 2021, it achieved nearly CNY 1.5 billion turnover. According to the strategic plan of market changes and keeping pace with the times, it built a good foundation for breaking 10 billion yuan in the future. In addition, Hengchang Shaofang has worked with Zhongyu Holding Group, Hurun Report, Xinchao Media Group and other well-known enterprises to develop co-branded high-end products based on the core IP, continuing to lead China's high-end baijiu market 

In 2022, it further increased its brand investment by joining hands with Focus Media, Xinchao Media, CITY-MEDIA and other elevator medias, laying out 25 core cities across China, with advertisements appearing on more than 1 million lift frames and streaming media screens, and stationed in nearly 100,000 communities. Up to now, the total advertising investment has exceeded 500 million RMB, and the omni-channel empowerment has helped Hengchang brand develop rapidly into a real super brand.

On 8th February 2023，Hengchang Shaofang started the 30,000 tonnes brewing base project, which is located in Tsubaki Village, Moutai Town, located in the core production area of China's maotai-flavor baijiu. The overall land is 1,500 acres, and the first phase of the land area is 300 acres, main business: Moutai Town Hengchang Intercontinental Hotel, Hengchang Shaofang Research Institute, Hengchang Shaofang Contemporary Art Centre, Hengchang Shaofang traditional brewing area, Hengchang Shaofang Vaults, etc., is expected to be opened to the public in 2025.

In April 2024, the signing ceremony of ‘InterContinental Hengchang Hotel Moutai Town’ was held between Moutai Town Hengchang Brewery Company Limited and InterContinental Hotels Group in Renhuai City, Guizhou Province, introducing the InterContinental Hotel brand to Guizhou. The Intercontinental Hotel Hengchang has a total of 193 high-end specialty guest rooms, which will become another landmark building in Moutai Town after the completion of the hotel, providing super five-star hotel services for tourists visiting Moutai Town and the brewing base, and integrating higher-standard international hotel services into the culture of baijiu travelling.

Up to now, Hengchang Shaofang has completed the layout of key provinces, first- and second-tier cities and key prefecture-level cities across China. Provincial platform companies have been built in Sichuan, Jiangsu, Fujian, Yunnan, Shandong, Henan, Tianjin, Xinjiang, Hunan, Guangdong, Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Shanghai, and the number of key cities continues to increase; Hengchang Shaofang tasting pavilions have been opened simultaneously in the core cities of Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, Xi'an, Jinan, Luoyang, Qingdao, Jining, Zibo, Taizhou, Xianyang, Longnan and other cities.

Honors:

1. In 2017, won the Sensory Quality Award of the National Liquor Judges of China

2. In 2019, won the Tax Contribution Award of the Fourth RedSorghum Award in Zunyi city.

3. In 2020, won the Golden Award and the 2020 High-end Maotai-flavor Liquor Award.

4. In 2020, won the China Liquor Qingyun Award for Year's High-end Product.

5. In 2021, won the Best Performance of High-end Maotai-flavor Baijiu of the 17th Hurun Best of the Best Award

6. In 2022, won the Best Performance of High-end Maotai-flavor Baijiu of the 18th Hurun Best of the Best Award

7. In 2022, won the Integrity Management Award of the sixth "Red Sorghum Award" in Zunyi region

8. In 2022, won the title of "Top Ten Famous Liquors" in the core production area (Renhuai) of Maotai-flavor Baijiu in China

9. In 2022, won the title of "Baijiu New National Standard Quality Demonstration Product" (Tianfuchuan Liquor · Sichuan Brand Baijiu)

10. In 2022, won China Golden Cup Award - Outstanding Maotai-flavor Liquor Brand

11. 2022 China Golden Cup Award - Chinese Liquor Star Product

12. 2023 Honors Certified by the Municipal Party Committee and People's Government of Renhuai, Guizhou - Top 10 Private Enterprises Paying Taxes in 2022

13. In 2023, won ‘National Safe Liquor Project - Model Enterprise’ by China Liquor Distribution Association

14. In 2024, won the ‘Maotai-flavor Visionary Award’ from Guizhou Liquor Enterprises Chamber of Commerce

15. In 2024, won the ‘Appellation Excellent Contribution Award’ and ‘Market Exploitation Award’ from Renhuai Liquor Association of Guizhou Province

16. In 2024, won the Silver Award of ‘China Maotai-flavor Baijiu Core Producing Region (Renhuai) Creative Packaging Design Competition’ jointly organised by China Packaging Federation and Renhuai Municipal People's Government

17. In 2024, won the ‘Most Popular Award’ in the China-Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) Commodity Exhibition 2024 - Hengchang Shaofang-1929 Commemorative Baijiu

18. 2024 ‘Gold Medal’, Brussels International Wine Competition 2024

About Hurun Inc. 

Promoting Entrepreneurship Through Lists and Research

Oxford, Shanghai, Mumbai, Sydney

Established in the United Kingdom in 1999, Hurun is a research and media group, promoting entrepreneurship through its lists and research. Widely regarded as an opinion-leader in the world of business, Hurun generated 8 billion views on the Hurun brand in 2023, mainly in China and India, and recently expanding to the UK, US, Canada and Australia.

Best-known for the Hurun Rich List series, telling the stories of the world’s successful entrepreneurs in China, India and the world, Hurun’s other key series focus on young businesses and entrepreneurs, through the Hurun Unicorns Index, two Hurun Future Unicorns indices, the Hurun Uth series and the Hurun Pioneers series.

Hurun has grown to become the world’s largest list compiler for start-ups, ranking over 3000 start-ups across the world through its annual Hurun Global Unicorns Index (startups with a valuation of US$1bn+), and two Hurun Future Unicorn Indexes: Gazelles, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within three years, and Cheetahs, most likely to ‘go unicorn’ within five years.

The Hurun Pioneering Young Startups and Entrepreneurs series focuses on startups set up within the last ten years and founders aged 45 or under. 

The Hurun Uth series includes the Under25s, Under30s, Under35s and Under40s awards, representing the cream of each generation of young entrepreneurs who have founded businesses with a social impact and worth US$1m, US$10m, US$50m and US$100m respectively. 

Other lists include the Hurun 500 series, ranking the most valuable companies in the world, China and India, the Hurun Global High Schools List, ranking the world’s best independent high schools, the Hurun Philanthropy List, ranking the biggest philanthropists and the Hurun Art List, ranking the world’s most successful artists alive today. 

Hurun provides research reports co-branded with some of the world’s leading financial institutions and regional governments. 

Hurun hosts high-profile events across China and India, as well as London, Paris, New York, LA, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney, Luxembourg, Istanbul, Dubai and Singapore.

For further information, see www.hurun.net.