Female Nude in Interior (1908)

Kálmán Tichy was nine years younger than his brother Gyula. Their upbringing and interests were similar, both became painters and graphic artists. Kálmán spent a long time with Simon Hollósy in Munich, and in 1907 he became a student at the Budapest Academy of Fine Arts. Even as a student, he often exhibited his watercolours and pen-and-ink drawings at the exhibitions of the Young Artists' Association. His finely stylized, decorative and technically brilliant colour watercolours also won the favour of Pál Szinyei Merse. He visited Italy on a scholarship. His interest turned increasingly towards the artistic possibilities of reproduced graphics. His dry-point engravings, mezzotints and etchings from the 1910s are evidence of a mature artist. In 1916 the St. George Guild presented the work of the two Tichy brothers. At that time Kálmán Tichy had more material than Gyula. The January 1916 issue of the journal Gyűjtő published several reproductions of his works. 

This early gouache-painting by Kálmán Tichy was created under the influence of Art Nouveau and conveys the sultry, erotic atmosphere of the turn of the century. The curvaceous, spiky lines are similar to Egon Schiele's nudes, the gaze of the moonlit woman and the colours of the picture are reminiscent of Toulouse-Lautrec's placards, while the interior and the material world of the painting are reminiscent of Rippl-Rónai's works on similar themes. He incorporates the brownish colour of the paper into the composition, both as the skin colour of the woman's body and of the wall. 

He lived in his hometown from 1918 and became a versatile and respected member of the burgeoning minority intellectual life. In addition to his artistic activities, he was involved in fiction, ethnographic research and collecting, and historical research.