On Kawara Auction Prices and Value Guide
On Kawara auction prices are tracked in Appraisily's artist market index, with source-directory coverage of 228 records. Use this page to review sold-lot activity, market context, and valuation factors before requesting a formal appraisal.
On Kawara auction prices: quick answer
On Kawara auction prices depend on medium, size, date, condition, provenance, edition details, attribution confidence, and recent comparable auction sales.
- Artist
- On Kawara
- Source records
- 228
- Market update
- 2026-02-06
Artist context
About On Kawara
On Kawara was a Japanese-born conceptual artist whose decades-long practice measured the passage of time and the fact of being alive. Born in 1932 and based in SoHo, New York, from 1965 until his death in 2014, he produced several rigorously sustained series over nearly fifty years. The best known is the Today series (1966–2013), for which he hand-lettered each day's date in white acrylic on a monochrome canvas, completing it before midnight or destroying it. Other serial works include the I Got Up postcards, I Am Still Alive telegrams, and the artist book One Million Years. Kawara represented Japan at the Venice Biennale in 1976, and his work has been the subject of major exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate, the Guggenheim, and the Centre Pompidou. His restrained, meditative approach to recording daily existence places him among the central figures of postwar Conceptual art.
Conceptual Artacrylic on canvaspostcards with rubber-stamped texttelegramsartist bookstime and date measurementexistence and mortalitydaily life documentation
Common works and media
Acrylic-on-canvas Date Paintings from the Today series (produced in several standardized sizes, each lined with a local newspaper from the city where it was made). Rubber-stamped postcards (I Got Up; I Went). Telegrams reading I AM STILL ALIVE. Artist books including One Million Years and journals recording daily activities. Drawings and mixed-media works incorporating maps and lists.
Market and appraisal context
On Kawara's works appear regularly at major auction houses, with the Today (Date Paintings) series commanding the strongest results. Value depends on the specific date's cultural resonance, the painting's size format, the locale indicated by the newspaper lining, and exhibition or collection provenance. The I Got Up postcards, I Went maps, and I Am Still Alive telegrams trade more frequently and at lower price points, offering collectors accessible entry into the artist's practice. Condition is particularly important for the newspaper-backed canvases and the fragile postcard works. Attribution is generally reliable thanks to Kawara's own meticulous record-keeping, though provenance documentation should always be verified.
Auction categories and appraisal factors
Appraisal caveats
- The artist's meticulous self-documentation means attribution is generally reliable, but works should still be verified against known records.
- Postcard, telegram, and map series works are more accessible at auction but trade at lower price points than Date Paintings.
- The artist's deliberate avoidance of conventional biography means contextual provenance documentation is especially important.
Evidence
Sources for artist context
This source-grounded artist context passed Appraisily's promotion threshold: high confidence, strong sources.
- Wikidata library authority
- Wikipedia wikipedia
- Getty Vocabulary Program library authority
- VIAF library authority
- Library of Congress library authority
- The Museum of Modern Art museum or university
Data basis
This page is built from Appraisily's public auction market index. Private transactions, incomplete sale feeds, and attribution changes may not be fully represented.
Artist value FAQ
How much is On Kawara worth?
Comparable public auction sales are the best starting point, but final value depends on the specific artwork, condition, size, medium, provenance, and attribution confidence.
Can Appraisily value my On Kawara artwork?
Yes. Appraisily can review photos, dimensions, signatures, condition, provenance, and comparable market data to prepare a current valuation.