The Chatov brothers were Russian emigres who for years captured the faces of high society and industry titans in New York, Palm Beach and finally Atlanta.

Marc, the son and nephew of these powerful portrait painters, after a brief Bohemian foray into theater, poetry and writing, fell in with the family tradition of figurative painting. He has a style that is uniquely his own; yet undoubtedly influenced by the classical characteristics of Uncle Constantin and the theatrical bravado typical of his father, Ramon.

The background of the brothers reads like the storyline of a first rate book or show on Broadway.

They came to New York in 1922 with their parents to escape Communism when Lenin rose to power. They adapted quickly to their new home, learned English on the street and by reading posters, and enrolled in the Arts Student League.

Constantin became an accomplished classical pianist who entertained in Manhattan hotels and accompanied the Russian Ballet when it traveled in this country.

Ramon painted murals and designed costumes. The murals in the famed Russian Tea Room in New York are his and those he painted at the Ford Pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair gained him many commissions here and abroad.

The brothers were avant garde, making bathtub vodka during Prohibition and moving in glamorous circles with the likes of the Prince of Wales, founder of the New York City Ballet George Balanchine, abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning, the Ziegfelds, Gertrude Lawrence, Sinclair Lewis and Veronica Lake.

One of the most famous and oft told stories to emerge from these days was when dancer Isadora Duncan insisted that Ramon design a silk scarf for her like his huge fringed creations used in an extravagant Spanish production on Broadway. This turned out to be her tragic undoing. It is told that while wearing the 50-inch square, she entered a car where the fringe somehow got tangled in the wheel and strangled her.

On another sad note, Constantin's career as a pianist was cut short when he injured his hand and could no longer play professionally. While nursing his wounds in Bermuda and trying to make ends meet giving music lessons, he began to draw and soon found a demand for his portrait sketches. He became so encouraged, he returned to New York where he became a popular portrait artist working with clients in Manhattan and Palm Beach. It was here that he met and painted vacationers from Atlanta, which led to his move there in the late 1950s. Ramon soon followed and the duo quickly established themselves as the deans of portraiture for Georgia's capital and beyond.

The memory of the Chatovs lives on, not only through the works of Marc, a well-established and highly successful portrait painter in the Southeast, but also through the many paintings the brothers left behind. They are now a part of the estate managed by Marc, who from time to time releases a select number of works for exhibit and for sale.

For the month of November, the Left Bank Gallery on St. Simons Island will be displaying Marc's recent works alongside a special collection of figurative paintings by Ramon and Constantin. Many date from their early New York days, but, are as any good piece of art, timeless.

For more information on the exhibit, contact gallery owner Mildred Huie Wilcox at (912) 638-3017 or 1-800-336-9469.