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Lot 129
Nicolai Fechin(1881-1955)A portrait of Antonio de Triana 12 x 10in overall: 21 x 19in
19 November 2018, 18:00 PST
Los AngelesSold for US$22,500 inc. premium
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Nicolai Fechin (1881-1955)
A portrait of Antonio de Triana
signed 'N. Fechin' (lower right)
oil on canvas
12 x 10in
overall: 21 x 19in
signed 'N. Fechin' (lower right)
oil on canvas
12 x 10in
overall: 21 x 19in
Footnotes
Provenance
with The Jamison Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Private collection, Georgia.
Antonio de Triana was the stage name of the Spanish flamenco dancer and instructor Antonio García Matos (1909-1989). Seville-born De Triana captivated American audiences in the 1940s with on-screen appearances as well as live performances at Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Auditorium, the San Diego Bowl, and the San Francisco Opera House, among other venues.
According to his widow, Rita Vega de Triana, the dancer was a skilled painter in his own right, and befriended several artists including Nicolai Fechin. Fechin 'saw Triana dance on many occasions, and often painted him, revealing the hidden nature of the 'Andaluz', which he expressed in rampant color in the tilt of Triana's nose and the flicker of an eyelid.'1
The present work is a study of a known full-length work depicting the dancer in a gypsy stage costume, and dates to the late 1940s or early 1950s. The study — and final composition — are typical for Fechin's California period and reflect his lifelong interest in ethnic culture and dress — from Cheremis, Chuvash, and Tatars in his Russian period to Indians, Mexicans and Balinese in his American period. Throughout his oeuvre, he favored models that were artistic free and kindred spirits. The paint handling and brushwork in Fechin's portraits is quite variable, involving a combination of careful elaboration of a precisely molded face with a free-handed approach, always meant to solve specific problems. In the present study, he investigated the man, carefully working through his face, but did not stop at naturalism. The temperament and expression of the dancer breaks through in a carefully-crafted study based on expressive means, artistry and refined articulations, manifested even in a slight turn of the head. Similar stylistic methods, concise composition, color and paint handling are often found in his work from the 1920s and 1930s.
After moving to Taos in 1927, Fechin, with rare exceptions, stopped placing dates on his works. Therefore dates, if no documentary sources are found, are given mainly within the period. The published memoirs of his widow recount the dancer meeting Fechin at his studio in Santa Monica. This suggests a possible date for the present work after 1947, when he moved to Santa Monica in his later period. Letters in the Fechin family archives between Eya Nikolaivna (nee Fechin) Branham, the artist's daughter, and Triana's widow reference the full-length portrait of Triana as a gypsy.2
We wish to thank Galina P. Tuluzakova, author of the monograph Nicolai Fechin: The Art and the Life, for providing this catalogue note.
1 Rita Vega de Triana, Antonio Triana and the Spanish Dance: A Personal Recollection, New York, Harwood Academic Publishers, 1993, p. 66.
2 Letters of Rita Vega de Triana to Eya Fechin, December 14, 1994, Eya Fechin to Rita Vega de Triana, January 3, 1995. Private archive, San Cristobal, New Mexico.
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