Nicolai Fechin

born Kazan, Russia, 1881; died Santa Monica, California, 1955

BiographyNicolai Fechin was born in Kazan, Russia, in 1881 and showed an aptitude for art at a young age. He began his studies at the Kazan School of Art, then went on to the Imperial Academy of Art to study under Ilya Repin in 1900. Fechin focused mainly on portraiture but was also interested in painting scenes of everyday life and landscapes around his hometown. He stayed in Russia through World War I, but after the political upheaval caused by the Russian Revolution he and his family immigrated to New York in 1923 with the help of a friend, art collector W.S. Stimmel. Though he found success easily in New York, Fechin contracted tuberculosis and decided to move to the drier climate of Taos in 1927. He found that the Native people and landscapes around Taos reminded him of Kazan, and he became known for his bold and gestural works that depicted everyday life in New Mexico. He left in 1933 and eventually settled in California, but his Taos home—an adobe structure with wooden architectural details hand-carved by the artist—is now the Taos Art Museum and Fechin House.

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