By Lenore Macdonald
An exciting special exhibition just opened at The Taos Art Museum, Masterful Expression: Nicolai Fechin’s Portraiture, on view April 12 through December 31, 2025. The exhibition will be housed in the historic Fechin House on The Taos Art Museum grounds, adjacent to his studio. This exhibition reminds us of his importance and of his impact. It will come as no surprise to Classic Chicago Magazine readers that I am a great fan of Nicolai Fechin’s body of work.
The Taos Art Museum has a very strong Chicago connection. The Taos Art Museum opened in 1994 to exhibit the collection of Edwin and Novella Lineberry in memory of Lineberry’s first wife, artist Duane Van Vechten.
The museum’s Executive Director Christy Schoedinger Coleman explained to me that “Duane Van Vechten was born in Chicago in 1899 and was the daughter of the prominent banker Ralph Van Vechten. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Art Students League in New York City, and under Emil Bisttram while summering in Taos in the mid-1920’s. In 1924, her father commissioned Nicolai Fechin to paint her portrait. It was completed in 1926. In 1935, Duane met Edwin C. Lineberry, and they married in 1941. Together they built and operated the first grocery store in Taos….”
Nicolai Fechin, Portrait of Duane Van Vechten, 1926, oil on canvas. Courtesy of https://www.artrenewal.org/artworks/nicolai-fechin/portrait-of-duane-van-vechten/77453
Duane continued painting, and after her death in 1977, Coleman continues, “Lineberry created a museum in memory of Duane and the Taos Founders, whose paintings formed the core of his collection. In 1994, the Van Vechten-Lineberry Taos Art Museum was created to promote and honor Taos’ most talented and notable artists. Today, it is the Taos Art Museum at the Historic Fechin Home and Studio.”
Nicolai Fechin, Alexandra on the Volga, oil on canvas, private collection.
Masterful Expression presents Fechin’s mesmerizing collection of paintings and charcoal drawings, offering an intimate glimpse into his relationships with the patrons, friends, family, and characters whom he met along the way. It spans Fechin’s artistic journey from Russia to New York, Taos, and California, as well as his travels to Mexico, Japan, and Bali.
Nicolai Fechin, Balinese Dancer, oil on canvas, private collection.
Nicolai Fechin is regarded as one of the most dynamic portraitists of the twentieth century. Trained at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg and influenced by Russian Impressionism, Fechin combined classical discipline with modern expressiveness. He was and remains renowned for his portraiture and was the subject of a 1923 Special Exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. One of Fechin’s portrait drawings is in the Art Institute’s Permanent Collection.
Cover of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Fechin Special Exhibition catalogue, courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago. Link: https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/5233/paintings-by-nikolai-fechin
Nicolai Fechin, Portrait (Study), from the Art Institute of Chicago’s 1923 Fechin Special Exhibition catalogue. To me, the model looks like his daughter, Eya, whom he painted many times as she grew up. Link: https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/5233/paintings-by-nikolai-fechin
This exhibition highlights Fechin’s remarkable ability to capture not only the physical likeness of his subjects but also their emotions and distinctive personalities. A powerful tension between precision and spontaneity characterizes Fechin’s portraits. He renders faces with meticulous care, often set against a flurry of loose, gestural strokes that dissolve into abstraction. His subjects are portrayed with a sensitivity that resists idealization. Instead, they emerge as human, relatable, contemplative, proud, vulnerable, and complex. Fechin’s portrait of General MacArthur is a case in point.
Nicolai Fechin, General MacArthur, oil on canvas, private collection.
Nicolai Fechin, Gregorio the Fiddler, oil on canvas, private collection.
A highlight of the exhibition, Gregorio the Fiddler, portrays the celebrated musician, Gregorio Ruiz (1889-1982). Ruiz’s traditional melodies enchanted audiences across northern New Mexico, bringing life to every village he visited. Seated beside the fireplace in the Fechin studio, Ruiz’s distinctive presence is captured in vivid detail– his face framed by striking red glasses, his hands at work tuning the violin, and his mouth slightly agape, as though he is about to play Fechin a tune.
Nicolai Fechin, Man with Cigarette (William Ritschel), graphite on paper, private collection. Ritschel was a celebrated California impressionist painter born in Germany in 1864. Ritschel’s painting, Katwijk Beach, is in the Art Institute’s permanent collection.
Nicolai Fechin, Katharine, oil on canvas, private collection. Katharine is Katharine Buzzell (Shackelford) Benepe who studied at the Art Institute of Chicago.
At the heart of Fechin’s portraiture is a search for connection. His ability to distill the intangible mood, memory, and spirit into his portraits reveals an artist deeply attuned to the people around him. Each work becomes a dialogue between the artist and the subject and, by extension, between the portrait and the viewer.
Nicolai Fechin, Eleanora Kissell, oil on canvas, private collection.
Masterful Expression is presented in Fechin’s former residence on Taos’ Paseo del Pueblo, the ancient road to the Taos Pueblo, which allows for a greater appreciation of his works. The home and studio are worth a visit in and of themselves. Fechin carved the woodwork in the home, which was based upon the long practiced and lauded Spanish Colonial carving tradition. He designed and built his home and studio to his precise specifications and needs.
Fechin’s home, now the Taos Art Museum.
Fechin’s carved the chair and painted Gregorio the Fiddler.
If your travels take you to New Mexico, this exhibition is worth the visit. And, if you are a Fechin fan it warrants a trip on its own. The fact that you get to view the exhibit in Fechin’s home is simply icing on the cake.
I would be remiss if I did not mention that the Taos Art Museum’s annual benefit, Boots & Bolos Gala & Auction, on Saturday, August 23, 2025, at the museum. It’s a fun party, and the silent and live auctions always offer terrific art. So, maybe double up your visit and take advantage of both the special exhibition and the benefit.
© 2025 Lenore Macdonald. All rights reserved.
