# Hermann Glöckner artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/hermann-glockner/ Profile generated: 2026-05-09T22:33:00.000Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1889-01-21 - Death date: 1987-06-18 - Nationality: German - Movements: Constructivism - Common media: Painting, Sculpture, Graphic arts ## About Hermann Glöckner Hermann Glöckner (1889–1987) was a German painter, sculptor, and graphic artist born in Dresden. Over a career spanning much of the twentieth century, he became an important representative of constructivism, producing rigorously geometric works in painting, relief, and freestanding sculpture. Active in Dresden before World War II and later in Berlin, Glöckner developed a distilled visual vocabulary of folded planes, diagonal axes, and intersecting color fields that aligned him with the broader European constructivist tradition. His work is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Despite decades of relative obscurity under East German cultural policy, his output regained scholarly and institutional attention in the later twentieth century, and collectors now encounter his work primarily through European auction houses. ## Common works and media Glöckner is best known for geometric abstract paintings, constructed reliefs and wall pieces, freestanding sculptures, and graphic works on paper. Landscape subjects appear in his earlier output. Collectors may also encounter exhibition posters and editioned prints. Works range from small-format works on paper to larger constructed sculptural pieces, with oil, gouache, and mixed-media constructions being the most frequently offered mediums at auction. ## Market and appraisal context Hermann Glöckner's secondary market is anchored in German regional auction houses, with 296 tracked lots and 243 priced results spanning 2009 to late 2025. The price distribution is wide but centered in the low four figures: the interquartile range runs from €1,000 to €6,100, with a median of €3,200 and a ceiling of €153,600. The highest result likely corresponds to a major constructivist painting or sculpture from his mature period. Liquidity is moderate—19 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window versus 25 in the prior year, indicating a stable but not high-volume market. The dominant venue is Schmidt Kunstauktionen Dresden OHG, followed by Dr. Irene Lehr Kunstauktionen, Grisebach, Kunstauktionshaus Leipzig, Kunsthaus Lempertz KG, and Auktionshaus Kloss. These are all German houses, consistent with an artist whose institutional and collector base is concentrated in Germany. Recent lots show that abstract constructivist works from the 1950s–1980s (e.g., 'Schwarz-Weiße Aufgipfelung vor Violett,' 1976, at €4,000; 'Geschlossene Schwünge in Schwarz und Weiß auf Braun,' 1958, at €5,500) outperform earlier figurative landscapes (e.g., 'Herbst in Fürstenau,' 1946, at €800) and small works on paper or prints (e.g., 'Die Tafeln 1919–1985,' 1992 edition, at €80). The market distinguishes clearly by medium and period. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Hermann Glöckner's secondary market is anchored in German regional auction houses, with 296 tracked lots and 243 priced results spanning 2009 to late 2025. The price distribution is wide but centered in the low four figures: the interquartile range runs from €1,000 to €6,100, with a median of €3,200 and a ceiling of €153,600. The highest result likely corresponds to a major constructivist painting or sculpture from his mature period. Liquidity is moderate—19 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window versus 25 in the prior year, indicating a stable but not high-volume market. The dominant venue is Schmidt Kunstauktionen Dresden OHG, followed by Dr. Irene Lehr Kunstauktionen, Grisebach, Kunstauktionshaus Leipzig, Kunsthaus Lempertz KG, and Auktionshaus Kloss. These are all German houses, consistent with an artist whose institutional and collector base is concentrated in Germany. Recent lots show that abstract constructivist works from the 1950s–1980s (e.g., 'Schwarz-Weiße Aufgipfelung vor Violett,' 1976, at €4,000; 'Geschlossene Schwünge in Schwarz und Weiß auf Braun,' 1958, at €5,500) outperform earlier figurative landscapes (e.g., 'Herbst in Fürstenau,' 1946, at €800) and small works on paper or prints (e.g., 'Die Tafeln 1919–1985,' 1992 edition, at €80). The market distinguishes clearly by medium and period. ### Appraisal notes Appraisily would use these auction records as comparable-lot evidence alongside the work's photographs, dimensions, medium, signature, condition report, and provenance documentation. For a Glöckner appraisal, the most relevant comparables are lots sharing the same medium (painting, constructed relief, sculpture, or work on paper), date of execution, and period within his long career. Edition details matter for prints and multiples. Provenance linking to his Dresden or Berlin periods, or to a documented exhibition or publication, strengthens attribution and supports higher valuation. Condition is particularly important for constructed reliefs and mixed-media works, which may be vulnerable to material degradation. The broad price range (€80 to €153,600) means that without specific medium and date information, a useful estimate cannot be derived from the distribution alone; the appraiser must match the subject work to the closest comparable cohort. ### Valuation factors - Medium is the strongest price determinant: original paintings and constructed reliefs consistently outperform works on paper, prints, and multiples - Period of execution matters: mature constructivist works from the 1950s–1980s command higher prices than early figurative landscapes or late editioned prints - Provenance and exhibition history, especially documentation tying the work to Glöckner's Dresden or Berlin periods, materially support value - Dimensions and format: larger paintings and sculptural constructions are scarcer at auction and tend to achieve higher results than small-format works on paper - Condition is critical for mixed-media constructions and reliefs, which may involve layered or folded materials susceptible to environmental damage - Attribution confidence: Glöckner's long career and evolving style (from figurative landscapes to geometric abstraction) can complicate dating and attribution; expert or catalogue-raisonné confirmation adds value - Auction-house tier: results at Grisebach or Lempertz may carry more market weight than regional house results, affecting comparable-lot selection ### Collector notes ### Market caveats - All prices are in EUR and reflect hammer prices at predominantly German auction houses; they do not include buyer's premiums, which typically add 20–30%. - The €153,600 maximum is an outlier well above the 75th percentile (€6,100); most lots trade in the €1,000–€6,100 range, and using the median or quartile figures provides more reliable estimates for typical works. - The source pack does not include specific auction-house catalogue pages or condition reports for individual lots; Appraisily auction signals are derived from aggregated public auction feeds. - Glöckner's death date has a minor discrepancy (May 10 vs. June 18, 1987) across authority sources; this does not affect attribution but may appear in provenance documentation. - Market liquidity is moderate: lot volume declined from 25 to 19 year-over-year, which may reflect normal fluctuation rather than a trend, but a thin market means individual results can skew the distribution. - Movement attribution (Constructivism) relies primarily on Wikipedia; no tier-1 museum or estate source in the original profile explicitly labels the movement, though the auction record titles are consistent with geometric abstract work. ### Market evidence sources - Appraisily auction record index: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/hermann-glockner/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-hermann-glockner-figura-3866-c-21d0e2f50d - Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-hermann-glockner-stehender-ruckenakt-3865-c-26a137e941 - Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-hermann-glockner-werke-aus-den-jahren-1945-bis-1975-1976-582-c-31e40989f5 ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from library authority files and museum collections with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Hermann Glöckner, identity data is grounded in the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, the Library of Congress, VIAF, Wikidata, and the Museum of Modern Art collection record. ## Sources - RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/253458 - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/108934586/ - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n84091946 - The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/2195 - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q881639 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Gl%C3%B6ckner