# Walther Klemm artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/walther-klemm/
Profile generated: 2026-05-14T21:53:39.342Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1883-06-18
- Death date: 1957-08-11
- Nationality: German
- Common media: woodcut, lithography, etching, painting, illustration

## About Walther Klemm

Walther Klemm (1883–1957) was a German painter, printmaker, and illustrator whose career spanned the first half of the twentieth century. Born on June 18, 1883, he studied art and art history at the University of Vienna from 1902 to 1905. Klemm worked across a range of graphic disciplines—including woodcut, lithography, and etching—alongside painting, establishing himself as a versatile figure in the German printmaking tradition. From 1913 until 1953 he held a teaching position at an academy, a four-decade tenure that reflects the esteem his peers placed in his technical mastery. His works are represented in major institutional collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and are documented in the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD) and the Getty Union List of Artist Names. Klemm died on August 11, 1957.

## Common works and media

Walther Klemm is best represented at auction by his graphic output. Common works include woodcuts (including color woodcuts), lithographs, and etchings, which appear both as individual prints and in portfolio or series format. He also produced paintings, drawings, and book illustrations. Editioned prints in various sizes and conditions make up the bulk of Klemm lots encountered in the secondary market, while original canvases and drawings appear less frequently.

## Market and appraisal context

Walther Klemm's work appears regularly at auction, with over 360 recorded lots. His prints—particularly woodcuts, lithographs, and etchings—constitute the majority of lots offered. As with most twentieth-century German printmakers, appraisal value depends on medium, edition size, condition, subject matter, date of execution, and whether the work is signed or inscribed. Original paintings by Klemm are comparatively scarce on the market. Provenance history and inclusion in recognized reference catalogues such as Thieme/Becker and Vollmer can further influence value. Collectors should verify attribution carefully, as unsigned prints and posthumous impressions may circulate alongside lifetime editions.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from museum, library-authority, and institutional sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Walther Klemm, identity data is grounded in records from MoMA, RKD, Getty ULAN, VIAF, and the Library of Congress.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q25942
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_Klemm
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500069354
- VIAF / OCLC: https://viaf.org/viaf/15046229/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n86093675
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/3143
- Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD): https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/222381