# Norah McGuiness artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/norah-mcguiness/
Profile generated: 2026-05-09T20:34:04.778Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1901-11-07
- Death date: 1980-11-20
- Nationality: Irish
- Common media: painting, illustration, drawing

## About Norah McGuiness

Norah Allison McGuinness (1901–1980) was an Irish painter and illustrator born in Derry, Northern Ireland, who spent much of her career in Dublin. Active from the early 1920s through at least the late 1940s, she is recorded in major library-authority files including the Getty Union List of Artist Names and the Library of Congress Name Authority File as a significant figure in twentieth-century Irish art. McGuinness worked primarily as a painter, and her practice also encompassed illustration and drawing. She is documented in the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD) with a recorded period of activity spanning 1924 to 1947, and her work appears in institutional collections and auction contexts internationally. Collectors most frequently encounter her oil paintings and works on paper.

## Common works and media

Norah McGuinness is commonly represented at auction by oil paintings on canvas or board, as well as watercolours, gouaches, and ink drawings on paper. Illustrations and book-related artwork also appear in sales records. Subjects noted in institutional holdings include landscape, still life, and figurative compositions. Works are typically signed; collectors should note that catalogue entries may use variant spellings of the artist's surname (McGuinness, MacGuiness).

## Market and appraisal context

Norah McGuinness's work appears regularly at auction, with over four hundred recorded lots tracked in sales databases. Paintings in oil are the most commonly offered category, followed by watercolours, gouaches, and illustrations on paper. As with most twentieth-century Irish artists, appraisal value depends on medium, size, subject matter, provenance, condition, and the presence of gallery or exhibition labels. Buyers should verify attribution carefully, as name variations (McGuinness, MacGuiness) appear across cataloguing systems. Published auction records and comparable lot results should be consulted for specific valuation guidance.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from library-authority and institutional sources with auction records, sale dates, realised prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Norah McGuinness, identity data is grounded in the Getty ULAN, VIAF, Library of Congress, RKD, and Wikidata authority files.

## Sources

- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/51720
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/26857363/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500086373
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2007136293
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7050219
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norah_McGuinness