Artists and friends

Rembrandt's Portrait of the Artist, 1665

On Sunday we pulled ourselves out of the house early in the pouring rain. A good day for museums.  The Seattle Art Museum has The Treasures of Kenwood House going on right now, an exceptional collection of old master paintings touring America for the first time.

Kenwood House was a private mansion on the outskirts of  London. Maybe it's under renovation and so the paintings are temporarily let out of the country.  Anyway, they once belonged to Edward Guinness (of beer fame) and were donated to Great Britain, including Rembrandt's most famous and priceless self-portrait.

There were also Dutch masterpieces and portraits of European people young and old, snooty and sweet, humble and rich.  Along with their animals. I love looking at portrait art. (Highly paid artists can be so sly.)

But how about this strange one, called Two Girls Dressing a a Kitten by Candlelight?
 Click here to read the funny irreverent captions from The Stranger, a Seattle weekly newspaper.

Nicolai Feschin, 1881-1955

After that, we drove up the hill to the Frye Art Musem to have lunch in the cafe and see the special Fechin exhibit.  John and I have a small connection with this artist that we treasure. And of course, we like his art. 

When Fechin burst on the Russian art scene, he was described as having a "barbaric mastery of form and color."  The only way to appreciate the variety and impact of his work is to see a large number of his paintings in one place.

It's a shame more people haven't heard of him because he's considered one of the most important portrait painters of the 20th century.  The Frye Museum has a large collection of Feschin art, and they also borrowed works from all over the U.S. and Russia for this special exhibit.

Fechin House, Taos New Mexico

Fechin lived in Taos from 1927-1933.  The paintings he did there of Native Americans and the New Mexico desert are considered among his best works.  But the Taos house he remodeled and enlarged for his family was also a work of art. He was highly skilled in metal and wood-working.

After divorcing his wife and leaving Taos (how could he bear it?) Fechin lived out the rest of his life in California.

In the 1970's, his daughter Eya returned to Taos and restored her family home. It opened to the public in 1981.  John and I had a memorable trip to New Mexico in the mid-1990's, and we stayed at the lovely Fechin Inn in Taos and toured the Fechin House, then called the Fechin Institute.

Words don't do justice to this exquisite house, with an artist's touch in the smallest details.  Anyway, while I was poking around in the garden, John ran into a friendly elderly lady in the kitchen.  He said they chatted for a while, and she introduced herself as Eya.

After Eya died in 2002, the house passed on to her daughter who sold it to a private foundation. It is now operated as The Taos Museum of Art for Artists and Their Patrons.  The Fechin House is worth a trip to this lovely, tucked away corner of the West. I hope to go back again someday.

Eya Fechin