OIL painter Zhou Chunya topped the Hurun Art List with sales of auctioned works totaling US$75 million in 2012, according to the Hurun Report released in late April in Beijing.

    Zhou, 58, is the youngest artist ever to top the list.

    Hurun, best known for its annual Hurun China Rich List, said the value of Zhou’s work has more than doubled from last year, when he ranked eighth.

    As many as 222 of Zhou’s paintings were sold last year. The most expensive one was a 1994 piece with a stone theme that auctioned for 29.9 million yuan (US$4.79 million).

    Oil painter Zeng Fanzhi, 49, came in second with US$73 million in sales last year.

    Renowned Chinese ink painter and calligrapher Fan Zeng, 75, took third place with US$69 million in sales at public auctions in 2012.

    The total turnover of the top 100 list fell 21 percent from last year, to US$1.2 billion. The threshold for artists making the top 100 fell 11 percent from last year, to US$2.4 million.

    The average age of the ranked artists is 66, three years older than last year. The youngest is 37-year-old Chinese ink painter and calligrapher Ren Zhong, whose work ranked 51st with US$7 million in sales in 2012.

    The list also includes six females, more than any previous year. Ninety-one-year-old Chen Peiqiu, for example, had a turnover of US$22.4 million last year and ranked 11th.

    Established as a research unit in 1999 by British accountant Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Inc. has grown into a leading luxury publishing group based in Shanghai.

    (Xinhua)