Zao Wou-ki  趙無極

 

 2011 Rank:14     Auction Revenue:US$90.01 million

2010 Rank:28      Auction Revenue:US$46.1 million

Zao Wou-ki (1921), born in a well-cultivated family in Beijing, is a Chinese-French artist considered one of the most successful Chinese masters alive. Zao began to paint in oil when he was studying at the Hangzhou Fine Arts School between 1935 and 1941. In 1948, the artist, greatly influenced by European Modernity, went to Paris, France, where he quickly improved on his abilities and soon made his fame for his unique blending of the traditional Chinese artistic aesthetics with the western painting techniques.

Influenced by abstract expressionism and impressionism, Zao's abstract and poetic works feature rich colors, powerful expressions and rhythmical senses. The master has opened more than 160 solo exhibitions around the world. Zao, who received many honorary awards in his life, was made one of the only 40 living members of the Académie des Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France in 2002.

The artist set a new auction record for himself by his 1968 abstract work "10.1.68"(82cm × 117cm), which fetched US$8.9 million in Oct. 2011 at Sotheby's in Hong Kong.