# Itzchak Tarkay artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/itzchak-tarkay/ Profile generated: 2026-04-29T16:30:31.335Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Death date: 2012-06-03 - Nationality: Israeli, Serbian - Movements: Israeli modern figurative art - Common media: Oil painting, Serigraphy (screen printing), Drawing, Mixed media ## About Itzchak Tarkay Itzchak Tarkay (1935–2012) was an Israeli painter and graphic artist born in Subotica, on the Yugoslav-Hungarian border, who emigrated to Israel in 1949. He is recognized for a distinctive figurative style characterized by bold color, fluid contour lines, and recurring depictions of women in moments of leisure and quiet contemplation. Active from the mid-1950s, Tarkay worked across oil painting, serigraphy, drawing, and mixed media. His work draws on post-Impressionist color sensibility while maintaining a recognizable modern idiom that made him one of the most widely collected Israeli artists of his generation. Notably, Tarkay successfully defended the trade dress of his signature style in Romm Art Creations Ltd. v. Simcha International, Inc., a landmark case affirming that an artist's distinctive visual language can receive legal protection against imitation. ## Common works and media Common works by Itzchak Tarkay include color serigraphs of female figures in interior and garden settings, original oil paintings on canvas, acrylic and mixed-media compositions, and works on paper in ink and watercolor. Serigraphs are often signed and numbered in editions. Typical subjects include reclining or seated women, café scenes, floral still lifes, and domestic interiors rendered in saturated color with strong outlined forms. ## Market and appraisal context Itzchak Tarkay maintains an exceptionally liquid secondary market with 2,438 recorded auction lots, of which 1,693 carry a realized price — one of the broadest auction footprints among modern Israeli artists. Prices span from $5 for small-format seriolithographs to $40,000 for premium original paintings, though the interquartile range ($100–$450) and median of $205 confirm that the majority of traded works are editioned prints and serigraphs. The trailing 12 months saw 281 lots, down from 344 the prior year, suggesting a modest cooling in supply but still-high turnover. Ten or more auction houses handle Tarkay regularly, including DuMouchelles, Hill Auction Gallery, Lion and Unicorn, and Leonard Auction, indicating broad regional distribution across US and international salerooms. Original oils and unique mixed-media works consistently outperform prints: a mixed-media on paper achieved $500 at Leonard Auction (March 2026), while a signed watercolor painting reached $400 at Hill Auction Gallery (December 2025), and a serigraph titled "Seated Women with Ships" realized $1,200 at Everard Auctions (October 2025). Standard signed and numbered serigraphs typically trade between $75 and $250, with larger-format or rarer editions occasionally reaching $375–$450. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Itzchak Tarkay maintains an exceptionally liquid secondary market with 2,438 recorded auction lots, of which 1,693 carry a realized price — one of the broadest auction footprints among modern Israeli artists. Prices span from $5 for small-format seriolithographs to $40,000 for premium original paintings, though the interquartile range ($100–$450) and median of $205 confirm that the majority of traded works are editioned prints and serigraphs. The trailing 12 months saw 281 lots, down from 344 the prior year, suggesting a modest cooling in supply but still-high turnover. Ten or more auction houses handle Tarkay regularly, including DuMouchelles, Hill Auction Gallery, Lion and Unicorn, and Leonard Auction, indicating broad regional distribution across US and international salerooms. Original oils and unique mixed-media works consistently outperform prints: a mixed-media on paper achieved $500 at Leonard Auction (March 2026), while a signed watercolor painting reached $400 at Hill Auction Gallery (December 2025), and a serigraph titled "Seated Women with Ships" realized $1,200 at Everard Auctions (October 2025). Standard signed and numbered serigraphs typically trade between $75 and $250, with larger-format or rarer editions occasionally reaching $375–$450. ### Appraisal notes Appraisily would use the 1,693 priced lots in the auction-record index as a comparable-sale foundation, then refine against the specific work's medium, dimensions, signature presence, edition number and size, condition report, and documented provenance. Because Tarkay's output spans original paintings, watercolors, mixed-media works, serigraphs, lithographs, and seriolithographs, medium identification is the single most consequential factor: original oils and unique works on paper command multiples of the print market. For editioned works, the edition size, fraction (e.g., 222/350), hand-signature versus plate signature, and presence of a certificate of authenticity materially affect value. Condition is particularly important for serigraphs on paper, where fading, foxing, or improper framing can reduce value significantly. The artist's successful trade-dress litigation (Romm Art Creations Ltd. v. Simcha International, Inc.) means that attribution confidence is generally strong, but appraisers should still verify signature and edition details against known catalogues. ### Valuation factors - Medium: original oil paintings and unique mixed-media works command significantly higher prices than serigraphs, lithographs, or seriolithographs; the $40,000 auction maximum likely reflects a major original, while most prints trade under $500. - Edition size and number: signed and numbered serigraphs in smaller editions carry a premium; edition fraction (e.g., low number or artist proof) can affect value within the same title. - Signature: hand-signed works are standard for Tarkay serigraphs; plate-signed or unsigned copies trade at a discount. Verify signature against known exemplars. - Dimensions: larger-format works (e.g., 40 × 66¾ in. framed) tend to realize higher prices than small-format prints. - Condition: paper-based works are vulnerable to fading, foxing, acid burn, and mounting damage; condition reports are essential for accurate appraisal. - Certificate of authenticity: many Tarkay prints were issued with COAs from the publisher (e.g., Romm Art Creations); presence of a COA supports attribution and value. - Title and subject: recognizable recurring titles (e.g., "Tea Time," "Suzanne," "Enchantment," "Sisters") appear frequently at auction, allowing direct comparable-sale matching. - Market liquidity: with 281 lots sold in the trailing 12 months and 10+ active auction houses, comparable data is abundant, supporting confident valuation. ### Collector notes ### Market caveats - The price distribution is heavily skewed: the median is $205 but the maximum is $40,000, reflecting the wide gap between editioned prints and original paintings. An appraisal must correctly identify medium before applying comparables. - Trailing 12-month volume (281 lots) is down approximately 18% from the prior year (344 lots), which may indicate softening demand or simply supply variation; a single year's change is not a definitive trend. - Several recent lots show null realized prices, indicating either unsold results or data not yet reported; these lots are excluded from price statistics but suggest that some titles or estimates may not align with buyer interest. - Tarkay's prolific output (2,438+ recorded lots) means that rarity varies enormously by title and edition. Common serigraph titles may appear dozens of times per year, while unique works are genuinely scarce. - No museum collection records were confirmed in the source pack; institutional representation could not be assessed. Collectors should independently verify exhibition history if it affects their valuation criteria. - Category labels in the auction records are sparse (many lots have null category); the category breakdown above is inferred from lot titles and the existing profile's medium list. ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/itzchak-tarkay/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-itzchak-tarkay-israeli-1935-2012-mixed-media-on-paper-124-c-ff342da175 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-seated-woman-lithograph-by-itzchak-tarkay-46-c-037b6bd0bb - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-itzchak-tarkay-1935-2012-tea-time-serigraph-signed-120-c-1ba34df599 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-itzchak-tarkay-enchantment-serigraph-print-181-c-139c431e67 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-itzchak-tarkay-suzanne-serigraph-print-158-c-139947f523 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-itzchak-tarkay-patio-luncheon-ii-167b-c-299474c776 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-itzchak-tarkay-1935-2012-seated-women-with-ships-104-c-1be6ed0e88 ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from authority files and institutional sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Itzchak Tarkay, identity data is drawn from VIAF, the Library of Congress Name Authority File, the RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History), and Wikidata. ## Sources - VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/56217751/ - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no97047760 - RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/76518 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itzchak_Tarkay - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15459095 - Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500476996