# Ida Kerkovius artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/ida-kerkovius/
Profile generated: 2026-05-10T06:02:03.552Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1879-08-31
- Death date: 1970-06-07
- Nationality: German, Baltic German
- Movements: Bauhaus (education period 1920–1923)
- Common media: painting, tapestry and textile art, graphic art, weaving, design

## About Ida Kerkovius

Ida Kerkovius (1879–1970) was a Baltic German painter, tapestry artist, graphic artist, and textile designer whose career spanned more than six decades. Born in Riga to a Baltic German family, she trained initially at the art school of Adolf Mayer before pursuing advanced study from 1920 to 1923, a period aligned with the formative years of the Bauhaus movement. Kerkovius became known for her dual mastery of painting and textile art, producing woven tapestries and graphic works alongside her paintings. Her long creative period extended from 1908 until 1970, bridging early-twentieth-century European modernism and post-war German art. She is represented in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and is documented in major reference works including Thieme/Becker and Vollmer. Collectors encounter her work most often through German and European auction houses.

## Common works and media

Ida Kerkovius worked across multiple media throughout her career. Her most commonly encountered works include woven tapestries and textile compositions, oil paintings, graphic works and prints, and design pieces. Her tapestries are frequently noted as a signature part of her output, reflecting her training as both a painter and a textile artist. Graphic works on paper, including prints and drawings, also appear regularly at auction. Collectors may find both abstract and figurative compositions across these media.

## Market and appraisal context

Kerkovius appears regularly in European auction records, with over 440 documented lots across her career. Her tapestries and textile works are considered particularly distinctive, while paintings and graphic works also circulate in the market. Key factors affecting appraisal include the specific medium (tapestry, painting, or graphic work), the period of creation, provenance documentation, condition, and whether the piece is cited in standard reference lexica such as Thieme/Becker or Vollmer. Works from her 1920s education and Bauhaus-influenced period may carry additional contextual significance. Collectors should verify attribution carefully for unsigned textile pieces.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from authority files and institutional sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. This page draws on the Library of Congress Name Authority File, Getty ULAN, VIAF, the RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History), and MoMA collection records, supplemented by structured auction data from the Appraisily and Invaluable databases.

## Sources

- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n82094645
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/44007
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500011504
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/69721634/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1656517
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Kerkovius
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/67048