# Francis Bott artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/francis-bott/ Profile generated: 2026-05-10T15:02:07.000Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1904-03-18 - Death date: 1998-01-01 - Nationality: German - Common media: oil painting, lithography, watercolor, gouache, collage, drawing, printmaking ## About Francis Bott Francis Bott (1904–1998) was a German painter, graphic artist, and draftsman born in Frankfurt am Main. He began his career as a journalist and art critic in Germany before emigrating in 1933. After settling in Paris in 1937, Bott devoted himself to painting at the encouragement of Oskar Kokoschka. Over a career spanning five decades he worked across oil, watercolor, gouache, lithography, collage, and drawing. A retrospective covering the years 1938–1985 was presented in 1987. Bott spent his later years in the Lugano region of Switzerland, where he died in 1998. Collectors encounter his work at auction primarily through paintings, works on paper, and original prints. ## Common works and media Bott produced oil paintings, watercolors, gouaches, and drawings, as well as lithographs and other graphic works. Collage is also documented among his techniques. Subjects range from figurative compositions to more abstract explorations. His prints and works on paper appear frequently at auction, while oil paintings are less common and may command stronger prices. ## Market and appraisal context Francis Bott's work has a well-established secondary-market footprint spanning over two decades of recorded auction activity, with 199 catalogued lots and 113 priced results dating from 2002 to late 2025. The price distribution is moderately dispersed: the median realized price is approximately €1,417, the 25th percentile sits near €950, and the 75th percentile rises to €3,300, with a recorded maximum of €37,000. Oil paintings on canvas command a clear premium—an Artcurial sale in April 2023 realized €25,000 for a 1965–66 oil composition—while prints, serigraphs, and works on paper cluster in the low hundreds to low thousands. The artist's liquidity is moderate: three priced lots appeared in the trailing twelve months and seven in the prior twelve months, indicating steady but not high-volume turnover. Major houses that have offered Bott include Christie's, Bonhams, Artcurial, Grisebach, Koller Auctions, and Karl & Faber, alongside specialist German and Swiss regional houses such as Kunstauktionshaus Schloss Ahlden, Germann Auction House Ltd, and Kunst und Design Auktionshaus Schops Turowski. Works are predominantly offered in EUR and CHF, reflecting Bott's career arc through Germany, France, and Switzerland. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Francis Bott's work has a well-established secondary-market footprint spanning over two decades of recorded auction activity, with 199 catalogued lots and 113 priced results dating from 2002 to late 2025. The price distribution is moderately dispersed: the median realized price is approximately €1,417, the 25th percentile sits near €950, and the 75th percentile rises to €3,300, with a recorded maximum of €37,000. Oil paintings on canvas command a clear premium—an Artcurial sale in April 2023 realized €25,000 for a 1965–66 oil composition—while prints, serigraphs, and works on paper cluster in the low hundreds to low thousands. The artist's liquidity is moderate: three priced lots appeared in the trailing twelve months and seven in the prior twelve months, indicating steady but not high-volume turnover. Major houses that have offered Bott include Christie's, Bonhams, Artcurial, Grisebach, Koller Auctions, and Karl & Faber, alongside specialist German and Swiss regional houses such as Kunstauktionshaus Schloss Ahlden, Germann Auction House Ltd, and Kunst und Design Auktionshaus Schops Turowski. Works are predominantly offered in EUR and CHF, reflecting Bott's career arc through Germany, France, and Switzerland. ### Appraisal notes When appraising a Francis Bott work, Appraisily combines the artist's authority-filed identity and career chronology with auction-record comparables drawn from 199 catalogued lots. The appraisal process weighs the following evidence layers: (1) photographs of the work to confirm medium, technique, and visual alignment with Bott's documented output across oil, watercolor, gouache, lithography, collage, and drawing; (2) dimensions and format, since larger oils on canvas occupy the upper price tier while smaller works on paper and prints fall lower; (3) signature and dating, as Bott's career spans the 1930s through the 1990s and period-specific works may carry different market interest; (4) condition report, including any restoration, foxing, or UV damage common in works on paper of this age; (5) provenance documentation, particularly any chain linking to galleries or exhibitions in Paris or Lugano; (6) edition details for prints and serigraphs, where edition size and impression number materially affect value; and (7) comparable lots from the auction record, filtered by medium, period, and size, using the observed price distribution to anchor estimates. The absence of a published catalogue raisonné means attribution relies on specialist examination and documented provenance rather than a definitive reference work. ### Valuation factors - Medium is the strongest price differentiator: oil paintings on canvas have realized up to €25,000–€37,000, while prints and serigraphs typically sell below €1,000 - Period and dating matter—works from Bott's Paris period (post-1937) and especially the 1950s–1960s appear to generate stronger auction results - Provenance adds value when documented through gallery labels, exhibition history, or the 1987 retrospective referenced in authority files - Condition significantly impacts works on paper (watercolors, gouaches, drawings, lithographs) given ages of 40–80 years - Signature verification is important given no public catalogue raisonné; specialist connoisseurship may be required for attribution - Size and format influence price, with larger compositions on canvas commanding a premium over smaller works on paper - Edition details (for prints and serigraphs) such as edition size, impression number, and whether the print is signed and numbered affect value - Currency and regional market matter—most lots trade in EUR and CHF, with German and Swiss houses handling the majority of volume ### Collector notes - Bott's market is accessible across a wide price range. Collectors entering at the lower end will find signed serigraphs and smaller works on paper typically priced between €200 and €1,000, while mid-range oil paintings and compositions generally fall between €1,000 and €5,000. The upper tier—large or notable oil paintings—can reach €10,000–€37,000 but appears infrequently. Liquidity is steady rather than high: expect a handful of lots per quarter across German, Swiss, and French regional houses, with occasional appearances at major international houses like Christie's, Bonhams, and Artcurial. Buyers should pay close attention to medium verification, as the price gap between an original oil and a later serigraph is substantial. Works bearing gallery labels or exhibition history from Bott's Paris or Lugano periods may carry added collector interest. Because no catalogue raisonné exists, provenance documentation is especially important for resale value and attribution confidence. The mixed EUR/CHF pricing environment means currency considerations may factor into cross-border purchases. ### Market caveats - Auction prices in the source data are reported in mixed currencies (EUR and CHF); direct comparisons require currency normalization and exchange rates at time of sale are not provided. - Of 199 catalogued lots, only 113 have recorded realized prices; 86 lots show no price, which may indicate unsold lots, withdrawn lots, or data gaps, potentially skewing the price distribution upward. - Lot counts in the trailing twelve months (3) are notably lower than the prior twelve months (7), which could reflect market softening, seasonal variation, or simply the partial-year nature of the data cut. - No external auction-house URLs, catalogue pages, or lot illustrations are available in the source pack; all auction data is derived from the Appraisily auction-record index. - No catalogue raisonné is known for Francis Bott; attribution cannot be cross-referenced against a comprehensive published inventory and may require specialist examination. - Birth-date conflict exists between sources (March 8 vs. March 18, 1904), which may occasionally cause confusion in lot cataloguing but does not materially affect valuation. - The maximum recorded price (€37,000) is an outlier well above the 75th percentile (€3,300); typical results cluster significantly lower and this figure should not be treated as representative. ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/francis-bott/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from museum, library-authority, and institutional sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Francis Bott, identity data is grounded in the Getty ULAN, VIAF, Library of Congress, RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, and Wikidata authority files. ## Sources - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q215547 - Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500110484 - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/2603464/ - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n87877493 - RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/11261