Itzchak Tarkay

Itzchak Tarkay was born in Subotica, on the Austria-Hungary border in 1935. In 1944, at the age of 9-years old he and his family were forcibly removed from their home by the Nazis and imprisoned in the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, in Austria. Allied forces liberated them in 1945 and he and his family emigrated to Israel in 1949. Itzchak attended the Bezel Academy of Art and Design and graduated from the Avni Institute of Art and Design in 1956.

​Itzchak's art is influenced by French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, particularly Matisse and Toulouse-Lautrec. His works were exhibited at the International Art Expo in 1986 and 1987, where he received recognition for his works in oil, acrylic, and watercolor. He is considered to be one of the most influential artists of the early 21st Century and has inspired artists around the world. Itzchak and his art have been the subject of three books, the most recent being "Itzchak, Portrait of an Artist," by Leonard Panor, published in 1997.

​His art is focused on almost dream-like images of elegant women in classical scenes, which draw the viewer into his imaginary world. Itzchak's studio has been preserved exactly as it was on the day of his death, as is the case with all the great masters.