Titled “At the Port “. It is hand-signed and numbered by the artist from a limited edition. The piece has dimensions of 11 1/2″ x 11″, Image Size 9″ x 9″ and is in excellent condition. Itzchak Tarkay was born in 1935 in Subotica on the Yugoslav-Hungarian border. Towards the end of World War II, Tarkay and at the age of 9, was sent with his family to the Mathausen concentration camp by the Nazis. Tarkay was only nine years old at this time. In 1949 Tarkay and his family immigrated to Israel and were sent to the transit camp for new arrivals at Beer Yaakov. The next two years were spent in a Kibbutz. In 1951 Tarkay received a scholarship to the Bezalel Art Academy where he studied for one year before he had to leave due to difficult financial circumstances at home. In order to continue his scholarship, Tarkay was allowed to study under the artist Schwartzman until his mobilization in the Israeli Army. Tarkay’s roots as a painter take hold in the decisive years of modern art. The bright colors and flat patterns build on the paths forged by Matisse, Mouly, and the Fauves. Like Picasso and Tobiasse, the sculptural grows stronger than the pictorial. Tarkay constructs a perspective and then takes it away. The paintings go through an abstract transformation, the perspective dissolves into colors and shapes, her face remains, and the world reconstructs around her. She is the natural woman – satisfied, calm, and serene. With closed eyes, her blue eyelids open onto a different world. She is floating, peaceful. There is an ancient mystery in the work of Tarkay that must be discovered for oneself. This is what Tarkay’s paintings achieve. Tarkay’s fertile female form is a timeless enigma. The poses that Tarkay’s figures manifest are every bit as classical as The Winged Victory or Venus de Milo. Tarkay dives deep into history, and brings up pearls for our times. The quality of his line is organic, the quality of his woman, his art, is magic. Visit American Fine Art to see Tarkay’s most unique collection of paintings, mixed media and original serigraphs.