# Walt Kuhn artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/walt-kuhn/
Profile generated: 2026-08-18T18:17:09.099Z
Quality: medium confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1877-10-27
- Death date: 1949-07-13
- Nationality: American
- Movements: American modernism, as a historical and exhibition context
- Common media: Painting, Works on paper and prints

## Portrait

![Walt Kuhn](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Walt_Kuhn_2.jpg/1280px-Walt_Kuhn_2.jpg)
Pangborn Pangb · Public domain
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walt_Kuhn_2.jpg

## About Walt Kuhn

Walt Kuhn (Walter Francis Kuhn, 1877–1949) was an American painter and an organizer of the 1913 Armory Show, the exhibition that introduced many American viewers to European modernism on an unprecedented scale. His historical importance therefore extends beyond his studio practice to the presentation of modern art in the United States. Kuhn is particularly associated with direct images of circus performers, including clowns and acrobats, although auction listings may also surface works on paper and prints alongside paintings. Collectors encounter his name through museum collections, exhibition history, library authority records, and matched public-auction listings. For appraisal purposes, identity control matters: records may appear under Walt Kuhn or Walter Francis Kuhn, while broad automated auction categories should not be mistaken for a confirmed catalogue of his oeuvre. A work's medium, date, subject, condition, provenance, and strength of attribution should be assessed together.

## Common works and media

Paintings form the clearest documented core of Kuhn's practice. Commonly associated subjects include clowns, acrobats, and other circus performers. Auction-index records also appear under works on paper and prints. Broader labels such as sculpture, mixed media, decorative art, and editions occur in the collected index, but those categories should receive lot-level attribution checks before being treated as characteristic parts of his oeuvre.

## Market and appraisal context

Public auction records provide useful comparable evidence for Walt Kuhn, but they should be filtered by the characteristics of the object being appraised. Medium, size, date, subject, condition, restoration, signature or inscriptions, provenance, exhibition history, and attribution confidence can all affect comparability. Edition details are also relevant when assessing prints or other multiples. Results reported by different auction houses may not treat buyer premiums and fees consistently, and private transactions may be absent. Broad category labels in an auction index are useful for discovery but do not establish that every matched object belongs securely within Kuhn's documented oeuvre. A defensible appraisal therefore depends on closely comparable lots and careful object-level examination rather than an artist-wide average alone.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist-identity research with matched public auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. Public results are evidence inputs, not substitutes for authentication, condition review, or a complete appraisal.

## Sources

- IdRef: https://www.idref.fr/034676368
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/33084024/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q118798
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500012372
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/3288
- National Gallery of Art: https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1444.html
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Kuhn
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/walt-kuhn/
- Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walt_Kuhn_2.jpg