Nicolai Fechin - Taos, NM.
The current April issue of American Art Review has a feature article on Nicolai Fechin, one of my favorite artists of the past.
Born in Kazan, Russia in 1881, Fechin studied with Ilya Repin. In 1914 his daughter Eya, featured on the cover, was born.
Fechin arrived in New York in 1923 and in 1927 he moved to Taos, New Mexico where he lived until 1933. Fechin died in 1955 in California. In the 1970's Eya returned to Taos where she and her mother restored their old house which is now a museum. She lived there until her death in 2002.
About twenty years ago I came very close to owning one of these Fechin portraits. In one of my more foolish moments I instead took three other paintings, totalling about the same money.
This Thursday I will be traveling to Taos and staying in the "Fechin Inn."
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Mike McCarty
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