# Bertha Lum artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/bertha-lum/
Profile generated: 2026-08-24T15:53:00.638Z
Quality: medium confidence, adequate sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: American
- Common media: Woodblock prints, Color woodcuts

## About Bertha Lum

Bertha Lum (1869–1954), also identified as Bertha Boynton Lum, was an American artist and printmaker associated with the international reception of Japanese and Chinese woodblock printing. Public authority records distinguish her through Wikidata, Getty ULAN, Library of Congress, VIAF, and museum identifiers. The collected biography describes her as helping popularize Japanese and Chinese woodblock prints beyond Asia. Public-domain examples include the color woodcuts Wind and Wave, Asia, Winter, The Pagoda, and Snow Balls. These documented works help explain why collectors encounter Lum through color prints featuring Asian subjects, architecture, seasons, and natural imagery. Her identity should be matched to the full-name form and stable authority records, especially when an auction catalogue uses the shorter Bertha Lum credit. Appraisily aggregates an established body of auction records for her work, but the available source pack provides limited institutional biography, so broader claims about her career and affiliations should remain conservative.

## Common works and media

The collected sources document woodblock prints and color woodcuts by Bertha Lum. Named examples include Wind and Wave, Asia, Winter, The Pagoda, and Snow Balls, indicating Asian themes, architecture, seasonal scenes, and natural imagery among the subjects represented in the available source material.

## Market and appraisal context

Appraisal should begin by confirming that an object is a print attributed to Bertha Lum and comparing its stated medium, title, and subject with documented examples. The source pack specifically identifies color woodcuts and woodblock prints, including Wind and Wave, Asia, Winter, The Pagoda, and Snow Balls. Comparable auction records can provide context when closely matched by work type and sale date, but this pack contains no major auction-house narrative or verified price trend. Auction results should therefore be treated as comparable evidence rather than predictions. The pack does not substantiate general claims about edition size, provenance, condition effects, impression quality, or rarity; those factors require object-specific documentation before supporting a valuation.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research with available auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots. Conclusions remain limited when authoritative biography or market evidence is unavailable.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4895502
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500067003
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n90720383
- British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG36429
- National Gallery of Art: https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.40618.html
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_Lum
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/bertha-lum/
- Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wind_and_wave_-_Bertha_Lum_LCCN2002721118.jpg
- Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asia_-_Bertha_Lum_LCCN2002721129.jpg
- Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Winter_-_Bertha_Lum._LCCN90707177.jpg