Tarkay Giclee

Itzchak Tarkay (1935 – June 3, 2012) was an Israeli artist. Tarkay was born in 1935 in Subotica, on the Yugoslav-Hungarian border. In 1944, Tarkay and his family were sent to the Mauthausen, a Nazi concentration camp, until Allied liberation freed them a year later. In 1949, his family emigrated to Israel, living in a Kibbutz for several years. Tarkay attended the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design from 1951, and graduated from the Avni Institue of Art and Design in 1956. Tarkay's art is influenced by French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, particularly Matise and Toulouse-Lautrec. His work was exhibited at the International Art Expo in New York in 1986 and 1987. He has been the subject of three books, published by Dr. Israel Perry. Perry Art Gallery And Park West Gallery, his dealer. His art is focussed on almost dream images of elegant women in classical scenes which draw you into an imaginary world. Few realize that Tarkay's early works were done by him personally to completion, but his later works were drawn by him and then colored in by helping artists on staff. This increased production, but that additional inventory reduced value of his total body of work. Today, the most important works by Tarkay are those that were done by his hand without assistance from others. Few dealers recognize this and many of Tarkay's pieces are not sorted out to distinguish his works from the works done by helper assistants to Tarkay. The value of "original" Tarkay works should increase in value, as Tarkay collectors begin to recognize the limited number of original works he made as opposed to the greater production which came later in Tarkay's career Tarkay's wife is Bruria Tarkay. They have two sons, Adi and Itay Tarkay. On June 3, 2012, Tarkay died. Tarkay was 77.

Decorating with fine art prints — whether they’re figurative prints, abstract prints or another variety — has always been a practical way of bringing a space to life as well as bringing works by an artist you love into your home.

Pursued in the 1960s and ’70s, largely by Pop artists drawn to its associations with mass production, advertising, packaging and seriality, as well as those challenging the primacy of the Abstract Expressionist brushstroke, printmaking was embraced in the 1980s by painters and conceptual artists ranging from David Salle and Elizabeth Murray to Adrian Piper and Sherrie Levine.

Printmaking is the transfer of an image from one surface to another. An artist takes a material like stone, metal, wood or wax, carves, incises, draws or otherwise marks it with an image, inks or paints it and then transfers the image to a piece of paper or other material.

Fine art prints are frequently confused with their more commercial counterparts. After all, our closest connection to the printed image is through mass-produced newspapers, magazines and books, and many people don’t realize that even though prints are editions, they start with an original image created by an artist with the intent of reproducing it in a small batch. Fine art prints are created in strictly limited editions — 20 or 30 or maybe 50 — and are always based on an image created specifically to be made into an edition.

Many people think of revered Dutch artist Rembrandt as a painter but may not know that he was a printmaker as well. His prints have been preserved in time along with the work of other celebrated printmakers such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol. These fine art prints are still highly sought after by collectors.

“It’s another tool in the artist’s toolbox, just like painting or sculpture or anything else that an artist uses in the service of mark making or expressing him- or herself,” says International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) vice president Betsy Senior, of New York’s Betsy Senior Fine Art, Inc.

Because artist’s editions tend to be more affordable and available than his or her unique works, they’re more accessible and can be a great opportunity to bring a variety of colors, textures and shapes into a space.

For tight corners, select small fine art prints as opposed to the oversized bold piece you’ll hang as a focal point in the dining area. But be careful not to choose something that is too big for your space. And feel free to lean into it if need be — not every work needs picture-hanging hooks. Leaning a larger fine art print against the wall behind a bookcase can add a stylish installation-type dynamic to your living room. (Read more about how to arrange wall art here.)

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