Nikolai Alexandrovich Tarkhov

Original canvas. The work is clean and ready to hang. UV light reveals no signs of retouching. Held in a simple wood frame and unexamined out of frame.
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Nikolai Tarkhov moved from Moscow to Paris in 1899. By 1906, the noted art dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard mounted an extensive solo exhibition of over 70 of Tarkhov's paintings. In the 1907 Salon d'Automne, Tarkhov's vivid, exuberant work led one reviewer to regard him as "part of the younger Bohemian crowd [who] outrage even the Byzantines and our North American Indians with their brilliant colour" (cited in Eleanor Green, Nicolas Tarkhoff, Berry-Hill Galleries, 1989-1990, p. 7). The same year he was made a member of the society with the right to exhibit ten works and continued to contribute to the Salon until 1911.

Tarkhov's early friendship with Konstantin Korovin introduced him to the vibrant colours and rapid brushwork of impressionist painting. Additionally, works by Monet, Van Gogh and the Fauves greatly influenced his style and choice of motifs. The present work is an important early example of this impressionistic style. Following the birth of his son, Jean, in 1905, Tarkhov concentrated on the theme of motherhood and tender descriptions of the family were to reappear in every one of the succeeding Salons.