Adja Yunkers

born Riga, Latvia, 1900; died New York, New York, 1983

BiographyAdja Yunkers was born Adolf Junkers on July 15, 1900, in Riga, Russia (now Latvia). He studied art in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg), but from 1917 to 1919 his schooling was interrupted by military service in the Russian army. Yunkers soon left Russia for Europe and traveled extensively for the next two decades, settling for long periods in Cuba, France, and Germany. During much of his early career, Yunkers was active in political as well as artistic movements. In 1936 he moved to Spain to fight in its civil war. When the war ended in 1939, he moved to Stockholm and began to focus on art making again. He became associated with the Swedish Surrealists and published three journals devoted to art and politics.

In 1947, Yunkers moved to New York and began to teach at the New School for Social Research. Influenced by the Abstract Expressionists he began drawing with pastel directly on canvas, resulting in large-scale works that recall Color Field painting . Yunkers also was a printmaker and bookmaker.

[source: The Guggenheim Museum, accessed May 2022]

Person TypeIndividual

Terms