Adja Yunkers

Adja Yunkers (1900–1983) was born in Riga, then part of Russia (now Latvia), and traveled extensively through Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, and Cuba early in his career. In 1947, he relocated to New York, where he became active in the nascent Abstract Expressionist movement. During this period, his work emphasized negative space, collage, and monochromatic compositions, reflecting a deep engagement with the formal concerns of modern abstraction.

Yunkers was also an accomplished printmaker and bookmaker, founding the Rio Grande Workshop in New Mexico, where he explored experimental print techniques. His large-scale canvases often drew directly on the surface, emphasizing texture, materiality, and the interplay of collaged forms. These works, informed by his printmaking background, often appear object-like, minimal, and spatially inventive, balancing abstraction with a tangible physical presence.

A member of the American Abstract Artists group, Yunkers exhibited widely throughout his career. His work is held in major museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. Today, he is recognized as a pivotal figure in American printmaking and a key contributor to the postwar avant-garde.