"Central Park, New York"

American modern painting of a mother and two children strolling in Central Park by Nicolai Cikovsky. Signed lower right. Oil on canvas laid down on hardboard. Condition is very good. Circa 1950. Overall framed in reproduction gallery frame 21.25 by 25.25 inches.

BIOGRAPHY
Nicolai Cikovsky (10 December 1894 — 1987) was a Russian-born American painter and artist. He was involved with Hampton Bays Art Group, Long Island, New York, along with David Burliuk, John Graham, Milton Avery, the Soyer twins Raphael Soyer, Arshile Gorky, and Moses Soyer.

He is known for his calm decorative landscapes and portraits, the style of which can be described as "modernist realism".

Early life and education

Nicolai Cikovsky was born Nicolai Stepanovich Cickowsky on December 10, 1894, in Pinsk, Russia. He was artistically inclined from a young age. From 1910 to 1914, he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Vilna with Chaïm Soutine, and from 1914 to 1918, at the Penza Royal Art School, where he met artist Vladimir Tatlin.

He then served as an artist-agitator in the Red Army, taught painting at the State Free Art Studios in Yekaterinburg (along with Russian painter Aleksandr Labas).

In 1921-1923, Cikovsky attended Vkhutemas with Vladimir Favorsky, Ilya Mashkov, and Pavel Kuznetsov.

Career

After finishing his education, in 1923, Cikovsky emigrated to the United States, settling in New York. He left behind all his early works in his homeland. At first, he made a living by creating theatrical scenery and wall paintings. After his first exhibitions — in the Brooklyn Museum (1926) and Daniel Gallery (1930) — his work began to be acquired for private collections.

Shortly after his arrival in the States, Cikovsky met famed Ukrainian and American artist David Burliuk, and a few years later made friends with another native of Russia, Raphael Soyer, under whose influence he began to paint in Social Realism style. This important movement during the Great Depression, embraced by many left-wing artists, was designed to draw public attention to the hardships of the working class.

In 1941, Burliuk bought a small house and several acres of land in a village called Hampton Bays, Long Island, and built a workshop and gallery there. Cikovsky followed him and started spending his summers in Long Island beginning in 1942. Soon, other artists joined them, including, Moses Soyer, Raphael Soyer, Arshile Gorky, George Constant, Milton Avery, and John Graham. The diverse backgrounds of the members contributed to the vibrancy of the group. While the core members — Burliuk, Cikovsky, the Soyer twins, and Graham — were immigrants from Russia, their circle grew to include members from other ethnic backgrounds — George Constant was from Greece and Arshile Gorky from Armenia. Cikovsky and Constant were particularly taken by the Long Island landscape and spent much of their time painting scenes of waterways, fields, and villages. Cikovsky was especially inclined to include workers — baymen as well as farmers — in his paintings. He was especially prolific during this time, painting hundreds of views of the land and water near his home in North Sea, Long Island. His brilliantly colored canvases featuring vast expanses of fields and intimate seaside scenes were some of the finest of his career. Although bucking the abstraction trend, Cikovsky's landscapes sold well and were well represented in galleries and museums in Manhattan and on Long Island.

In addition, Cikovsky taught at the Cincinnati Academy of Arts (1935 — 1936) and The Art Institute of Chicago, and The Art Students League of New York (1937 — 1949).

He was a member of the National Academy of Fine Arts, National Academy of Design, Society of Painters, Sculptors and Engravers.

Death

Cikovsky died in 1987 in Washington D.C., at the age of 92.