Nikolai Alexandrovich Tarkhov

Paris, Salon des Indépendants, Grande Rétrospective des 50 ans, 1926

Exhibition catalogue, Grande Rétrospective des 50 ans, Salon des Indépendants, Paris, 1926, cat.no.2469, listed as Place du Maine (jour gris)
R.Vrinat, Nicolas Tarkhoff 1871-1930, Les Cahiers d'art-documents, no.221, Geneva: Editions Pierre Cailler, 1965, illustrated

The canvas is original and appears to be on its original stretcher. The canvas has become loose in the bottom left corner and is slightly buckling. There are frame abrasions along the edges. There is some scattered craquelure, in particular some raised craquelure in the area of the two steam clouds. There are two small areas of paint loss to the aforementioned steam cloud on the right. The paint surface is covered in a layer of dirt. Inspection under UV light does not reveal any apparent signs of restoration. Held in a gold-painted wooden frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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Tarkhov arrived in Paris in 1899, finding inspiration in the dynamic artistic environment and the radical experiments of the Fauvists.  His work from the early 1900s is a stunning representation of these influences—rich, bright colours and rapid, insistent brushstrokes create images that are filled with motion and spontaneity.

Place du Maine was painted in 1905 and depicts a bustling intersection, alive with the energy and pulse of the city. Tarkhoff subtitles the work “A Grey Day” (Jour gris), but despite the overcast sky, the painting exudes a sense of optimism. A critic at the Zolotoe Runo exhibition in 1906 commented on the artist’s buoyant style, writing “Tarkhoff neither likes nor seeks melancholy poetry—he has chosen a grand view…glittering with sun or ice and his pursuit of it is unceasing” (A. Sredine, “Exposition de Tarkhov”, Zolotoe runo; La toison d’or, June 1906, p.91). A painting on the same theme, Avenue de Maine (1905), is in the collection of the Petit Palais museum in Geneva.