Itzchak Tarkay

Itzchak Tarkay was an Israeli painter known for his Post-Impressionist portraits done in watercolor and acrylic. Influenced by the work of both Henri Matisse and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Tarkay’s expressive, use of color lent a dream-like quality to his serigraphs, prints, and paintings. Born in 1935 in Subotica, Serbia, Tarkay and family settled in Israel after Allied forces freed them from a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. The artist went on to study at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem and later the Avni Institute of Art and Design in Tel Aviv. Later in life, Tarkay mentored younger Israeli artists, including Yaacov Agam and Yuval Wolfson. He died unexpectedly on June 3, 2012 while visiting the director of Park West Gallery in Detroit, MI.