# Adja Yunkers artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/adja-yunkers/
Profile generated: 2026-05-04T19:07:09.608Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1900-07-15
- Nationality: American
- Movements: Abstract art
- Common media: painting, color woodcut, lithograph, collage, graphic art

## About Adja Yunkers

Adja Yunkers (1900–1983) was a Latvian-born American abstract painter and printmaker whose career spanned six decades and several continents. Born in Riga, then part of the Russian Empire, Yunkers studied in Leningrad, Berlin, Paris, and London before settling in Paris for fourteen years. In 1939 he relocated to Stockholm, where he published and edited the arts journals ARS and Creation. After emigrating to the United States in 1947, he taught at the New School for Social Research in New York and spent summers at the University of New Mexico. A 1949 Guggenheim Fellowship supported his continued work in abstract painting and printmaking. Yunkers is especially recognized for his innovative color woodcuts of the 1950s, which introduced expressive brushwork into the medium, and for major lithograph series produced at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles during the 1960s. His work is held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and other institutions.

## Common works and media

Yunkers's most frequently encountered works at auction and in collections include color woodcuts from the 1950s, lithographs from the 1960s (particularly the Salt and Skies of Venice series produced at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop), abstract paintings in oil and mixed media, collages, and graphic works on paper. His prints range from bold, gestural abstractions to atmospheric compositions. Woodcuts are notable for their integration of painterly brushwork into the relief-printing process.

## Market and appraisal context

Adja Yunkers's work appears regularly at auction, most often as color woodcuts and lithographs from his 1950s and 1960s periods. Key valuation factors include the specific medium and technique, whether a piece belongs to a named series such as Salt or Skies of Venice, edition size and impression number, condition, and documented provenance. Works from his Tamarind Lithography Workshop period carry additional collector recognition. Institutional holdings at MoMA and elsewhere reinforce his market profile. Appraisers should note that Yunkers worked across a wide date range and in multiple countries, so accurate dating and attribution may require catalogue or museum verification.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from museum, library authority, and scholarly sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Adja Yunkers, this page draws on MoMA, RKD, VIAF, Wikidata, and published biographical references.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4683136
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adja_Yunkers
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/92934742/
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/6526
- RKD: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/86020