Chana Orloff

Do you own a piece by Chana Orloff and would you like to know more about the work and its value? Our Experts will carry out a free appraisal of your sculpture, provide you with an estimate of the market price, and help you to sell it at the best price.

Status, price and estimation by artist Chana Orloff

Price of a drawing and watercolour: 200 – 1,000 €.

Price of a sculpture: 1,500 – 100,000 €.

If you would like to have an Orloff sculpture appraised, our experts will take care of everything.

An education marked by political events

Chana Orloff was a Russian sculptor and engraver born in 1888 in Russia who died in Israel in 1968.

His Jewish family left Russia in 1904, fleeing anti-Semitic persecution. Chana Orloff moved to Paris in 1910, where she met painters and poets such as Picasso, Fujita and Apollinaire. These encounters would be decisive for the rest of her career.

In 1911 she enrolled at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. She began sculpting in 1912, the year she met Modigliani and fell under his influence.

An avant-garde success

In the 1913s, Chana Orloff mainly executed wooden sculptures, but also some drawings and portraits of Picasso and Matisse, his friends who inspired him.

Meeting with some success, in 1913 she exhibited busts at the Salon d’Automne, then at the Salon des Artistes Indépendants and the Salon des Tuileries. She was one of the few sculptors represented at the exhibition of the Maîtres de l’art Indépendants held in Paris in 1937.

During the interwar period, our artist began a career as a portrait painter led her to great fame. Then, from 1928 onwards, her work focused on sculpture and oscillated between a figurative, very realistic part and a more abstract part, sometimes made in cement or marble.

Humanity as a subject

It is in this more abstract context that she created one of her most famous works, Shark (1958) and Great Wounded Bird (1963), a 2.4-metre-high sculpture paying homage to Israeli pilots. Chana Orloff also received numerous public commissions that attest to her success. This is the case of Dove of Peace (1965) for the House of Nations in Jerusalem.

Nowadays very present on the art market, Chana Orloff‘s works show a sensitive interest in animals, women, children or motherhood, without a doubt the subjects of predilection of our artist. Prices vary as much as the subjects and materials used by the artist. For example, we can cite Torso, two bronzes sold at 297 797 € (Christie’s, New York, 8 November 2012) or Madonna, this marble sold at 50 000 € (Christie’s, Paris, 21 October 2016).

Active until the end of her life, leaving behind her prolific work, Chana Orloff died in 1968, at the age of 80, at the opening of a retrospective exhibition of her work in Tel Aviv.

Recognising Chana Orloff’s signature

Like many artists, Chana Orloff did not sign all of his works. However, you will find below an example of the signatures to give you an idea. Variations of these signatures do exist, do not hesitate to contact one of our experts to formally authenticate a signature.

Appraise and sell a painting by Chana Orloff

If you own a Chana Orloff sculpture or any other print, ask for a free estimate via our online form.

You will then be contacted by a member of our team of experts and auctioneers to give you an independent view of the market price of your painting. In the event of a sale, our specialists will also advise you on the various options available to sell your work at the best price.