# Mary Corita Kent artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/mary-corita-kent/ Profile generated: 2026-05-02T17:57:24.623Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1918-11-20 - Death date: 1986-09-18 - Nationality: American - Movements: Pop art - Common media: screenprint / serigraphy, graphic design, printmaking ## About Mary Corita Kent Corita Kent (1918–1986), born Frances Elizabeth Kent in Fort Dodge, Iowa, was an American artist, printmaker, and educator best known for her vibrant screenprints that merge Pop-art aesthetics with messages of faith, social justice, and peace. She entered the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Los Angeles and took the name Sister Mary Corita. During her decades of religious life she taught at Immaculate Heart College, where her art department became an influential creative hub. Kent's work draws on advertising typography, poetry, and liturgical text, aligning her with the Pop-art movement while retaining a distinct activist voice. She left the order in 1968 and continued making art in Boston until her death in 1986. Her work is held in major museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. ## Common works and media Kent's most commonly encountered works are screenprints on paper, often incorporating hand-lettered text, advertising slogans, biblical quotations, and political messages rendered in vivid Pop-art palettes. Posters, greeting cards, and book covers she designed for religious and secular publishers also appear in the secondary market. Less frequently, original paintings, mixed-media works, and large-format murals — such as her well-known Boston Gas tank commission — are documented. Collectors may also find exhibition catalogs and artist books she authored or illustrated. ## Market and appraisal context Corita Kent's secondary market is well established with 46 auction lots recorded by Appraisily between November 2010 and March 2026, of which 40 carry realized prices. The price distribution spans $47–$2,112 USD with a median of $600 and an interquartile range of $350–$850. John Moran Auctioneers dominates the recorded turnover and appears consistently across multi-lot consignments, suggesting a regional specialist channel (Southern California) that handles her work regularly. Additional houses include Skinner, Los Angeles Modern Auctions, Leonard Auction, Potomack Company, and South Bay Auctions, indicating broader but lower-frequency national exposure. Works from the early-to-mid 1960s—particularly titles with social-justice or liturgical text such as "Bread of Self Being" (1965, $2,112) and "Someday is Now" (1964, $1,848)—command the highest prices. Later works from the 1970s and early 1980s tend to realize lower but still accessible figures ($198–$627). Liquidity has softened recently: only 6 lots sold in the trailing 12 months compared with 14 in the prior 12 months, though this may reflect consignment cycles rather than declining demand. The market is firmly in the accessible-to-mid-range tier for Post-War & Contemporary Prints & Multiples. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Corita Kent's secondary market is well established with 46 auction lots recorded by Appraisily between November 2010 and March 2026, of which 40 carry realized prices. The price distribution spans $47–$2,112 USD with a median of $600 and an interquartile range of $350–$850. John Moran Auctioneers dominates the recorded turnover and appears consistently across multi-lot consignments, suggesting a regional specialist channel (Southern California) that handles her work regularly. Additional houses include Skinner, Los Angeles Modern Auctions, Leonard Auction, Potomack Company, and South Bay Auctions, indicating broader but lower-frequency national exposure. Works from the early-to-mid 1960s—particularly titles with social-justice or liturgical text such as "Bread of Self Being" (1965, $2,112) and "Someday is Now" (1964, $1,848)—command the highest prices. Later works from the 1970s and early 1980s tend to realize lower but still accessible figures ($198–$627). Liquidity has softened recently: only 6 lots sold in the trailing 12 months compared with 14 in the prior 12 months, though this may reflect consignment cycles rather than declining demand. The market is firmly in the accessible-to-mid-range tier for Post-War & Contemporary Prints & Multiples. ### Appraisal notes An Appraisily appraisal of a Corita Kent screenprint would compare the work against these 46 recorded lots, filtering by period, title, edition size, dimensions, and condition. Key inputs the appraiser needs from the owner: (1) photographs of the work front and back; (2) sheet and image dimensions; (3) medium confirmation (screenprint/serigraph on paper); (4) signature and edition numbering—Kent signed many works in pencil, and edition size varies from small signed-and-numbered runs to large or open editions; (5) condition report noting foxing, fading, creasing, or acid burn common to screenprints on paper; (6) provenance documentation, especially any ties to Immaculate Heart College, the Corita Art Center, or the artist's estate. Comparable lots are most reliable when matched by title and approximate date: for example, 1965 text-based screenprints cluster around $726–$2,112, while 1970s titles in larger editions tend toward $198–$627. The appraiser should note that the dataset is skewed toward John Moran Auctioneers results and may underrepresent East Coast or European auction outcomes. ### Valuation factors - Period and title: 1960s screenprints with social-justice, liturgical, or Pop-art text imagery (e.g., "Bread of Self Being," "Someday is Now") consistently realize the highest prices; works from the late 1970s–1980s tend lower - Edition size and numbering: Kent produced screenprints in small signed-and-numbered editions, large editions, and open editions; scarcity within a specific title materially affects value - Condition: screenprints on paper are vulnerable to fading, foxing, acid migration, and handling creases; unfaded color and clean margins significantly increase value - Provenance: documentation tracing ownership to the Immaculate Heart College period, the Corita Art Center, or the artist's estate adds confidence and value - Dimensions: larger-format works (e.g., the 19.25 × 34 in. "Gravity" commission) may attract different buyer segments than standard-size screenprints - Auction-house channel: works sold through specialist print dealers or Southern California regional houses may realize different prices than general-estate auctions - Signature conventions: pencil-signed and numbered works are standard; unsigned or posthumously stamped works require additional authentication and typically realize less ### Collector notes ### Market caveats - The Appraisily dataset of 46 lots is sourced from auction-record feeds and may not capture every sale, particularly private transactions or results from houses not indexed in the feed. - John Moran Auctioneers accounts for a disproportionate share of recorded lots; price levels may be influenced by regional market dynamics in Southern California. - Six lots sold in the most recent 12 months compared with 14 in the prior 12 months—this decline in observed volume could reflect consignment timing rather than demand shifts. - Kent produced screenprints in widely varying edition sizes; two works with the same title but different edition numbers or condition can realize substantially different prices. - Attribution is generally straightforward for signed screenprints, but unsigned works, poster editions, and reproductions circulate in the market and may be confused with original screenprints. - No major museum exhibition or catalogue-raisonné source was present in the source pack; the Corita Art Center in Los Angeles maintains the primary catalogue of her work and should be consulted for definitive attribution. ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/mary-corita-kent/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-corita-sister-mary-kent-1918-1986-impossible-loves-1972-14-c-62948af869 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-corita-sister-mary-kent-1918-1986-hope-is-the-remembrance-of-the-future-1978-1-c-32bb6d9ef1 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-corita-sister-mary-kent-1918-1986-to-understand-1965-1029-c-b784ec0b54 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-corita-sister-mary-kent-1918-1986-bread-of-self-being-1965-1026-c-aeeb1a18b4 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-corita-sister-mary-kent-1918-1986-someday-is-now-1964-4-c-0d04afab28 ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine structured artist-identity research from museum, library-authority, and encyclopedia sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable-lot data when those records are available. For Corita Kent, identity data is drawn from the Museum of Modern Art, RKD, Library of Congress, VIAF, and Wikidata. Market context is supplemented by Appraisily's auction-database signals where present. ## Sources - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5170723 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corita_Kent - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/116412788/ - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50081507 - The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/41140 - RKD: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/297152 - Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500014156