# Anatolij L'vovic Kaplan artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/anatolij-l-vovic-kaplan/
Profile generated: 2026-05-11T21:08:00.131Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1902-12-28
- Death date: 1980-07-03
- Nationality: Russian, Belarusian
- Movements: Soviet art, Jewish art revival in the Soviet Union
- Common media: painting (oil, tempera), lithography, ceramics, sculpture, watercolor, gouache, printmaking, graphic art, illumination

## About Anatolij L'vovic Kaplan

Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan (1902-1980) was a Russian-Belarusian painter, sculptor, printmaker, and ceramicist whose body of work is deeply shaped by his Jewish heritage. Born in Rogachev, Belarus, Kaplan spent most of his career in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), where he developed a distinctive visual language that fused Soviet-era figuration with themes drawn from Jewish folklore, shtetl life, and Yiddish literary tradition. He worked across an unusually broad range of media — oil painting, lithography, watercolor, gouache, ceramics, sculpture, and illuminated manuscripts — and is particularly recognized for his graphic series illustrating stories by Sholem Aleichem and other Yiddish writers. His work is held in major institutional collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Kaplan's output remains of interest to collectors of 20th-century Russian and Jewish art.

## Common works and media

Collectors most frequently encounter Kaplan's color lithographs and graphic series, many illustrating scenes from Yiddish literature and Jewish daily life. Also appearing at auction are tempera and oil paintings of interiors and genre scenes, watercolor and gouache works on paper, decorative ceramic plates and tiles, and occasional small-scale sculptures. Prints are often signed and numbered in edition; attribution should be verified against his documented name variants (Anatoli L. Kaplan, Anatoly Kaplan, among others).

## Market and appraisal context

Kaplan's works appear with regularity in the international auction market, especially his lithographs and graphic series, which are more widely available than his unique paintings or ceramic pieces. With over 400 catalogue entries in the Appraisily database, he represents a well-documented but specialized segment of the Soviet-era art market. Collectors should note that edition size, medium, condition, and the presence of a signature all affect value. Original paintings and sculptures are comparatively scarce at auction and may command higher prices than works on paper.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine structured artist-identity research from library authorities and museum collections with auction-house catalogue records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan, identity data is grounded in the Getty ULAN, VIAF, RKD, Library of Congress authority files, and the MoMA collection record.

## Sources

- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/43462
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q338350
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/15561378/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500013148
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n84093248
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/2991
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoli_Lvovich_Kaplan