Joseph,
I have many favorite artists (if you can say that) but among them is a Russian Impressionist who came to America in the thirtys and loved to paint native people wherever he traveled. His name is Nicholai Fechin. More well known in the west but highly regarded among portrait painters everwhere. Try
http://askart.com/artist/F/nicolai_ivanovich_fechin.asp and see attachment. Books on Fechin are hard to come by and therefore costly when found but worth every dime.