# Ivor Abrahams artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/ivor-abrahams/
Profile generated: 2026-05-24T11:52:30.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1935-01-10
- Death date: 2015-01-06
- Nationality: British
- Movements: Post-war British sculpture
- Common media: Polychrome sculpture (painted plastic and synthetic materials), Printmaking (lithography, screenprint, etching), Ceramic art, Assemblage, Drawing

## About Ivor Abrahams

Ivor Abrahams RA (1935–2015) was a British sculptor, ceramicist, and printmaker celebrated for his polychrome sculptures and stylised prints of garden and landscape subjects. Born in Wigan, Lancashire, he studied at Saint Martin's School of Art and Camberwell School of Art during the 1950s. Over a career spanning six decades, Abrahams became known for his restless experimentation with materials—particularly painted plastics—transforming everyday garden motifs into vivid, sculptural forms. His art dealer James Mayor once described him as Europe's answer to Robert Rauschenberg for the breadth of his technical curiosity. Elected a Royal Academician in 1989 and a recipient of a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship, Abrahams is represented in major public collections including Tate and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

## Common works and media

Collectors and appraisers most commonly encounter Abrahams' work as polychrome sculptures and assemblages in painted plastic, editioned lithographs and screenprints of garden and landscape scenes, ceramic pieces, and works on paper including drawings. Garden follies, topiary forms, and stylised natural motifs are recurring subjects across all media. Some sculptural works were produced as multiples. The Mayor Gallery in London was his long-standing representative.

## Market and appraisal context

Ivor Abrahams' work appears at auction primarily in Post-War and Contemporary Art, Prints and Multiples, and Sculpture categories. His polychrome sculptures in painted synthetic materials are the most distinctive category and tend to attract the strongest collector interest. Editioned prints—lithographs, screenprints, and etchings of garden subjects—are relatively accessible entry points. Key factors affecting appraisal include medium and material, edition size and condition, provenance through recognised galleries or institutions, and the date of execution. Works from his most experimental 1960s–1980s period are often highlighted in sale catalogues.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine independent artist-identity research from museum, library-authority, and scholarly sources with public auction records, sale dates, realised prices, and comparable lot data when those records are available. For Ivor Abrahams, identity and biographical data are grounded in authority files from Getty ULAN, VIAF, RKD, and the Library of Congress, corroborated by museum records at Tate and MoMA.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11714362
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivor_Abrahams
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500012378
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/135179/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n88665183
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/49
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/ivor-abrahams-622
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/229
- Ivor Abrahams: http://www.ivorabrahams.com