THE contemporary

ector Chang Tsong-zung (Johnson Chang for the
Westerners) is a major pioneer in the field of Contemporary
Chinese art. In the following years, Chinese
artists were supported by a booming population
of local art buyers coupled with Western buyers
seduced by the huge potential of the new Chinese
market. After November 2005, Fanzhi’s auction
prices started to snowball, sometimes fetching ten
times their estimates. In 2007, various highly reputed
Chinese collectors began acquiring works by
Zeng Fanzhi and his prices rocketed. His first result
above the million-dollar line was hammered in
Hong Kong in May of that year (at 12 times the low
estimate), and the 7-digit level was confirmed the
following month with another million-plus result
in London 1 . Since then, Fanzhi has generated over
one hundred results above the million-dollar line.
In 2008, Zeng Fanzhi further strengthened his
market power when Christie’s managed to sell his
Mask series 1996 No.6 for no less that $9.6 million
(three times the high estimate 2 ) at its first sale of
Contemporary Asian art in Hong Kong. Five years
later, the artist earned another auction record when
his The Last Supper, a giant canvas from the now famous
Guy and Myriam Ullens Collection, added
$13.6 million to his previous record. After appro-
1) Mask Series N°8 fetched $1.6 million including fees at
Christie’s Hong Kong on 27 May 2007, then Hospital Series
fetched $1.7 million including fees at Phillips de Pury &
Company in London on 22 June 2007.
2) Christie’s Hong Kong, 24 May 2008.
ximately fifty bids, the buyer obtained the most
expensive work of Contemporary Chinese art ever
sold at auction ($23 million).
With the advent of the financial crisis, his sales,
like many others’, substantially contracted: on 30
November 2008, a work of the same calibre as Mask
series 1996 No.6, entitled From the Masses, to the Masses,
failed to sell. The following day Christie’s Contemporary
art sale generated a 43% unsold rate... However
Zeng Fanzhi’s prices rapidly recovered, supported
by some of the world’s most powerful dealers
and collectors and an energetic programme of exhibitions:
in 2008 he showed at the Saatchi Gallery
3 , then at New York’s Acquavella in 2009, then
Venice in 2011 (Francois Pinault), then London’s
Gagosian in 2012, then Paris’s Musée d’Art Moderne
4 in 2013, and the Louvre in 2014... Unlike some
of his compatriots, his aura of prestige has proved
extremely resilient. Over the last year 5 , 41 Zeng
Fanzhi paintings have sold at auction, and 41% of
these fetched above the million-dollar line 6 ...
Zeng Fanzhi’s prices have stabilised and collectors,
no longer disoriented by his style changes,
are continuing to invest in other series besides his
Masks and Hospital series. The common theme
3) The Revolution Continues, New Art From China, Saatchi Gallery,
London.
4) Zeng Fanzhi from 18 October 2013 to 16 February 2014.
5) Between July 2014 and July 2015.
6) Including fees.