# Chana Orloff artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/chana-orloff/
Profile generated: 2026-05-18T19:07:19.601Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1888-07-12
- Death date: 1968-12-18
- Nationality: French, Israeli, Ukrainian-born
- Movements: Art Deco, Figurative art
- Common media: Sculpture (wood preferred), Engraving and printmaking, Painting, Drawing

## About Chana Orloff

Chana Orloff (1888–1968) was a Ukrainian-born sculptor who became a significant figure in French and Israeli modern art. Born in what is now Ukraine, she moved to Paris where she studied from 1911 and developed a practice rooted in Art Deco and figurative sculpture, with a documented preference for wood as a primary material. She obtained French nationality in 1925 and remained active for over five decades, from roughly 1913 until her death in 1968. During the Second World War she was forced to flee, interrupting her career between 1942 and 1945. Beyond sculpture, Orloff also produced engravings, prints, paintings, and drawings. Her work is held by major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. With 328 documented auction appearances, her sculptures and prints surface regularly in the international art market.

## Common works and media

Orloff is most frequently encountered as sculptor of figurative works in wood, bronze, and stone, as well as engravings and prints. Her sculptural output includes portraits and figure studies executed in an Art Deco-inflected figurative style. She also produced paintings and drawings, though these are less commonly seen at auction than her sculptures and prints.

## Market and appraisal context

Chana Orloff's work appears most often at auction as sculpture and prints. Wood sculptures are particularly associated with her practice and may attract focused collector attention. Provenance, condition, date of execution, and secure attribution all affect appraisal value. Works from her interwar Art Deco period and her post-war return to Paris may carry different market profiles. Collectors should be aware that older cataloguing sometimes uses variant spellings (Orlowa, Orlova), which can affect search results across auction databases. Specific realized prices and market trends should be confirmed against current auction records.

## Appraisily data basis

This Appraisily artist page combines identity research drawn from museum records, library authority files, and scholarly databases with available auction-house context, sale dates, and comparable lot records when those are accessible. Biographical facts are cross-referenced against multiple independent sources; where evidence is thin, caveats are noted explicitly.

## Sources

- RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History): https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/60948
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q455857
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/37999521/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500048065
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chana_Orloff
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr92027005
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/4428