Lot 187: NICHOLAI ALEXANDROVICH TARKHOV, 1871-1930

LADY IN BED

95 by 125cm., 37 1/2 by 49 1/4 in.

titled in Latin on reverse

oil on canvas

NOTE

Although influences of Impressionism and Fauvism are clearly visible in Nikolai Tarkhov's canvasses, his desire to forge his own artistic path sets him apart from his fellow Moscow colourists. His individualism was evident from early on in his career, from the unique lack of allusion to Russian folklore while an exhibitor with the World of Art group, to his decision to leave the École des Beaux Arts in Paris because he refuted the advice of his teachers. This led him to adopt a style, 'which you can instantly recognise [~] from amongst a thousand pictures' (Alexander Benois, 'Exhibition of Works by Tarkhov', Rech', 1910, 22^nd October)

Throughout his oeuvre, Tarkhov was disinclined to use his imagination as inspiration for his art, preferring, like Degas, to apply his brand of Impressionism to modern life. The canvasses dating from the first decade of 1900 are life-affirming images of his family and the country. Colour was his primary tool. Leaning towards a warm, chromatic palette, Tarkhov understood the need for a more subjective art. Often he would paint enlarged petals solely for the pleasure of reproducing the colour harmonies (G.Diehl, Nicolas Tarkhoff, Geneva: Somogy, 1982, p.40)

As Lady in Bed exemplifies, planes are suggested with the direction of the artist's brush: Tarkhov seems to caress the model's black hair as it lies draped sensuously across the canvas.

Nikolai Tarkhov's career is remarkable in that he was one of the most prolific Russian artists in Paris, regularly exhibiting in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kiev, who became one of the most reclusive. Following his move away from Paris to Orsay in 1911, his exhibition entries declined, and Tarkhov retreated further into solitude. One of the rare canvases sent to the Salon d'automne in the year before his death was The grim reaper (see Lot 123). Given the artist's tendency towards Realism, this composition stands out within his body of work. By the time it was executed, Tarkhov was seriously ill with mouth cancer. It is a dark and striking image, which represents the artist's fatalism with ominous directness.