# Nahum Gutman artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/nahum-gutman/ Profile generated: 2026-04-30T09:21:05.691Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Nationality: Israeli - Common media: oil painting, mosaic, sculpture, illustration ## About Nahum Gutman Nahum Gutman (1898–1980) was a Moldovan-born Israeli painter, sculptor, mosaic artist, and illustrator widely regarded as one of the founding visual chroniclers of early Tel Aviv and Jewish life in Palestine. Active from roughly 1905 until his death in November 1980, Gutman worked across painting, sculpture, monumental mosaics, and book illustration, earning recognition both as a fine artist and as a beloved children's book author-illustrator. His work captures the landscapes, streets, and everyday culture of the emerging Jewish community in Ottoman- and Mandate-era Palestine, making his oeuvre an important visual record of Israeli cultural history. He is listed in major reference works including Bénézit, Vollmer, and the Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon, and is represented in authority files at the Library of Congress, VIAF, the RKD, and the Getty Union List of Artist Names. ## Common works and media Gutman's output spans oil and watercolor paintings, mosaics, sculptures, ink and charcoal drawings, and illustrated books. His paintings frequently depict Tel Aviv cityscapes, Jaffa harbor, pastoral landscapes, and figures from everyday life in pre-state Palestine. He also produced large-scale public mosaics and murals. As an illustrator, he created artwork for children's books and literary publications. Collectors may encounter original paintings, signed prints, preparatory drawings, mosaic panels, and illustrated first editions at auction or through galleries specializing in Israeli modern art. ## Market and appraisal context Nahum Gutman's auction market is deep and liquid, with 374 recorded lots spanning 1993 to April 2026 and 267 lots carrying realized prices. Activity is concentrated in Israeli specialist houses—Tiroche, Ishtar, Montefiore, Kedem, and Pasarel—with meaningful representation at Sotheby's, Bonhams, and Aguttes, confirming international demand. The price distribution is wide: the median realized price is $2,200, the 75th percentile is $10,000, and the recorded maximum is $200,000. Recent 12-month volume (31 lots) is up from the prior 12 months (22 lots), indicating sustained or growing market interest. Top-tier prices at Tiroche in December 2025 reached $110,000, $80,000, and $55,000 for individual lots, likely major oil paintings, while works on paper, prints, and illustrated books regularly trade below $500. The market is bifurcated: significant oils of iconic Tel Aviv and Jaffa subjects command five- and low-six-figure sums, while prints, books, and minor works trade at accessible price points. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Nahum Gutman's auction market is deep and liquid, with 374 recorded lots spanning 1993 to April 2026 and 267 lots carrying realized prices. Activity is concentrated in Israeli specialist houses—Tiroche, Ishtar, Montefiore, Kedem, and Pasarel—with meaningful representation at Sotheby's, Bonhams, and Aguttes, confirming international demand. The price distribution is wide: the median realized price is $2,200, the 75th percentile is $10,000, and the recorded maximum is $200,000. Recent 12-month volume (31 lots) is up from the prior 12 months (22 lots), indicating sustained or growing market interest. Top-tier prices at Tiroche in December 2025 reached $110,000, $80,000, and $55,000 for individual lots, likely major oil paintings, while works on paper, prints, and illustrated books regularly trade below $500. The market is bifurcated: significant oils of iconic Tel Aviv and Jaffa subjects command five- and low-six-figure sums, while prints, books, and minor works trade at accessible price points. ### Appraisal notes Appraisily would use these 374 auction records as comparable-sale evidence, filtered by medium, dimensions, subject matter, period, and condition. An appraiser would match the work being appraised against the most relevant priced lots—for example, an oil painting of a Tel Aviv street scene against the Tiroche December 2025 lots that realized $55,000–$110,000—while adjusting for size, date of execution, provenance, signature presence, and condition. Works on paper and prints would be benchmarked against the sub-$5,000 tranche. Bronze sculptures (e.g., the Pasarel lot at $1,100) provide a sculpture-specific comparable. The appraiser would also factor in the sale venue: results from Sotheby's or Bonhams may reflect international buyer competition, while Israeli house results anchor the domestic market. Provenance documentation, exhibition history, and inclusion in Gutman's reference-catalogue entries (Bénézit, Vollmer, AKL) would further support or adjust the value estimate. ### Valuation factors - Medium: oil paintings command the highest prices (up to $200,000 recorded); works on paper, gouaches, and watercolors typically trade in the $1,000–$5,000 range; prints and illustrated books often sell below $100. - Subject matter: iconic Tel Aviv street scenes, Jaffa harbor views, and early Palestine landscapes carry a premium over later or less characteristic subjects. - Size and format: large-scale oils and monumental works are scarcer and more valuable; small-format works, studies, and book illustrations trade at lower tiers. - Period and date of execution: works from Gutman's earlier periods (1920s–1950s) tend to be more sought-after than late-career pieces. - Provenance: estate provenance, documented exhibition history, and gallery labels from established Israeli galleries strengthen value. - Condition: condition reports are essential; restorations, tears, or fading significantly affect price, especially for works on paper. - Auction venue: results from Sotheby's, Bonhams, and Aguttes reflect international demand; Tiroche and other Israeli houses anchor the domestic market and often achieve the highest prices for major oils. - Authenticity and signature: works bearing a clear signature and documented attribution are more readily accepted by the market; unsigned or attributed-only works may trade at a discount. ### Collector notes - Gutman's market is active and liquid, with 31 lots appearing in the most recent 12 months alone. For buyers, the wide price range ($5–$200,000) means entry points exist for prints and ephemera, while significant oils require a five- to six-figure budget. Tiroche Auction House is the dominant venue and a good barometer for major works; monitoring their Israeli Art sales is the most efficient way to track top-tier pricing. Works appearing at Sotheby's or Bonhams may reflect international collector demand and can set benchmark prices. For sellers, provenance documentation and condition reports materially affect outcomes—estate-fresh oils of Tel Aviv subjects with exhibition history are the strongest performers. The increase in volume from 22 to 31 lots year-over-year suggests healthy demand, but sellers of prints and minor works should set realistic reserves given the large supply of lower-tier material. ### Market caveats - All prices are drawn from Appraisily's auction-record index, derived from public auction feeds; private-sale and gallery prices are not captured. - Currency mix: the dataset includes lots priced in USD and EUR; cross-currency comparisons should account for exchange rates at time of sale. - Some recent lots lack realized prices (bought-in or unsold), which may indicate reserve mismatches for certain price tiers. - Lot titles in the record often omit medium and dimensions, so comparable-lot matching requires additional research for formal appraisals. - The maximum recorded price of $200,000 likely represents an outlier (a major oil painting); it should not be treated as representative of the typical Gutman work. - Prints and illustrated books may be attributed to Gutman as illustrator rather than as sole creator, which affects valuation differently from original artworks. ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/nahum-gutman/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-nahum-gutman-1898-1980-house-in-grove-maison-dans-le-bois-1966-160-c-c7e1ca54f7 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-nachum-gutman-1898-1980-coachman-in-a-jaffa-street-278-c-c6e63b3449 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-nahum-gutman-1898-1980-israeli-landscape-gouache-and-watercolor-708-c-e45573fa08 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-nahum-gutman-3-illustrated-books-text-by-h-n-bialik-palestine-1928-29-in-hebrew-292-c-a8d4e53936 ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from museum, library, and authority-file sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Nahum Gutman, identity and biographical data are grounded in Wikidata, VIAF, the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, and the Library of Congress authority file. Market context is based on published reference entries and general category knowledge; specific price data requires consultation of live auction databases. ## Sources - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2915105 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachum_Gutman - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/32232401/ - RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/103692 - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85104568 - Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500104229