Nicolai Fechin

Maxwell Galleries, San Francisco (probably)
Acquired from the above by the present owner, circa 1980s

Oil on canvas, canvas is not lined. Surface: In generally good condition; light scattered craquelure and a few small losses of paint to the upper right quadrant. UNDER UV: No apparent inpainting.
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Two of the most characteristic elements of Nicolai Fechin’s style date back to his days as a young art student. He learned the technique of applying bright colors with dramatic flair in quick, successive layers one atop the other from his mentor, Filip Malyavin (1896-1940), whose specialty was Russian folk culture and also from his exposure to French Impressionism. His deep interest in portraiture as the basis of all expression grew from his interactions with his teacher Ilya Repin (1844-1930), the most venerated artist at the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg. (Mary N. Balcomb, Nicolai Fechin, Flagstaff, 1975, pp. 4-8). 

The third most formative experience in his work came later, after he moved his family to Taos, New Mexico in 1927 for health reasons and discovered the life, landscape and culture of the American Southwest, which entranced him and became inextricably linked to his art for the remainder of his life.

 To capture the spirit and sincerity of the sitter’s likeness, Fechin worked at rapid speed. His quick execution resulted in the deft, animated strokes of the palette knife and brush evident in this portrait with its dabs of vivid, unadulterated colors juxtaposed with expansive scrapes of intermingled paint. The sitter in this work is thought to be Mary Kiker, a friend of the artist's daughter Eya.  Following the divorce of her parents in 1933-4, Eya went from, “being my mother's little girl... to my father's closest friend.("Eya Fechin, American West magazine, "Teenage Memories of Taos",    November, 1984, pp. 29 - 36).  She would continue to live and travel with him intermittently for the remainder of his life.

Lot 227 is illustrated as a back cover of this catalogue.